Today is for
the streams of 
“if only — “

if only the front room
was lush 
with palmetto,

if only the sink
was not full
of sharks,

if only you’d grown up
on porches
on Mars

and spent hours there
thinking about the art you’d make
if you could live forever.

Today is for
faking happiness with what
replaced dreams unfulfilled —

a celebration
of your absence
from your deserved life.

For the phantom
you became
in its impossible place.