You’re Good, You’re All Good, You’re the Best

Is fantasizing adaptive
Or addictive as nicotine,
Opium, qat, and alcohol
Rolled into one? Can it be both,

Like eating meals, like life itself?
Everyone crumbles memories
Leftover from experience
Into pie crusts of make-believe,

And many believe what they make
More than what they experience
Or see others experience,
Which seems a lot like addiction,

Like scrimping on food to buy gin.
Forgive us if you’re one of them.
This isn’t an intervention.
We’re asking an honest question—

Are fantasies adaptations?
Could it be fitness benefits
From nostalgia and daydreaming?
Consider how the fantasists

Can be ruthlessly pragmatic
Outside of their cordoned dreamworlds—
The business tycoon who believes
In a country that never was,

The ghostly, blue-lit show-watchers
Who hold down jobs and raise their kids,
The kids who dream of winning games
But are practical when they cheat.

We know fantasies involve us,
Your friends, your toolkits, your meanings.
We’d like to believe dreams help you,
Those of us helped by your belief.