Do It Yourself

I strolled the home improvement store’s aisle
pursuing the boundless supplies in furniture kits,
convinced I could save a fortune on furnishings
by buying a few choice self assembly options.

Confidence flowed in streams of potent expectations
for I had watched those do it yourself shows on TV,
they made this chore seemed so easy to complete,
a few minutes of labor would bring a perfect creation.

Making my choice by the picture on the box’s outside,
in prudent restraint I elected to get only one to begin,
my mind ablaze with images from my home’s living room
where some future date would find so many completed items.

What boast I knew I could share in sheer prideful ecstasy
unto to every visitor blessed to inspect the fruit of my hands,
knowing they would crown me the self construction king
once my visions of success became a visible reality.

Opening the box and shaking with such intense anticipation
slowly removing that small booklet of simple instructions,
they made me dizzy from when I couldn’t match their images
with any of the parts I frantically checked within the box.

This masterpiece that I gave up on and didn’t build
lies in its container upon a shelf inside my garage,
it is underneath the pile of self help magazines never read,
next to the model ships remaining in their cardboard sheaths.

Someday I’m sure that I’ll actually finish all of them,
just have to find those fingers that walk past a thought
to a place where I touch some dream for more than a whim
and get beyond being high talking about what I’m going to do.