An Empire of Dunces

As I finish re-reading
A Confederacy of Dunces,
I promise myself not to wait
another 13 years to read it again.

Next I imagine what might have happened had Toole not killed himself.

If the book had been
accepted by a publisher
before the author's grave decision.

Would it still have won the Pulitzer?

Would it still have been a hit?

Might Toole have even wriiten a sequel?
A novel chronicling the hijinx of Ignatius,
and the minx Myrna Minkoff
in New York City?

How would Fortuna's wheel spin
for Mr. Reilly in The Big Apple?

Those things we'll never know.
Questions without answers.

So for now,
here's to dreaming of alternate universes,
and cracking open a book that never existed.

An Empire of Dunces.