Postcards from Utopia

Old postcards from the antique shops
portraying places far from here,
in miles and in many years.

The old-time pictures, photos, ads,
locations unknown, almost flawless,
ever invitational:

vacations I might try someday,
attractions you have heard about,
most regions one will never reach.

These open notes penned on the back
will often wish that you were here
- the "you" not you, of course, and yet

it could be you - not you, right here -
but elsewhere in the multiverse,
where you dress very differently,

have varied tastes, another life,
and seek adventures overseas
or wish to wander on a whim,

or fall asleep in pricey inns
with heart-shaped pools and neon lights,
or maybe crave more ancient sights

- a castle, fortress, pyramid -
or relish benches by the lake,
or drive down roads no others take.

Perhaps you mend a shattered heart
and visit Greece, or Spain, or Rome
or some estate, another home

where someone stays the night, no more,
because too much is left to tour
before tomorrow's history.

Most postcards feel addressed to me,
and some include my given name.
And, here, they tell me, "Try this train,"

a classic one with puffs of steam
that chugs by mountains and a stream.
And now I'm in it, like a dream.




Postcards from Utopia © Copyright 2021, Robert J. Tiess.

View this poem at AllPoetry.com

Image prompt (colorful houses with boats, very much like what you might find on a postcard) challenge - link: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2772164-Warm-and-sunny-photo-images-1
Submitted: February 14, 2021









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