Reoccurring Dreams - A Very Old Poem!

9/26/03

Sing a song of nightmares
A river full of dirt
Getting off the school bus
With neither pants nor shirt
In a movie theatre,
You cannot look away
You will experience your own death
At the matinee.
A cliffside full of icy caves,
A disappearing beach
The nearest fragile tree root
Is just inches out of reach
Going off to college
At thirty-three years old
Should I lie about my age,
Or should roommates be told?
Working in a restaurant
With people crowding in--
Your section's full, no help in sight
Where should you begin?
I'm on a shaky balcony
Looking at the ocean
I see emerging monsters
Slow and frightening, unreal motion
No stars are in the sky
No people in the town
The feral dogs and cats
Try to tear the buildings down

Sing a song of nightmares
I thought I had a test
Too bad I missed the lectures
And forgot about the rest
They rearranged the buildings
The calendars were gone
I ran from north to south
Across the empty, moonlit lawn
My car was in the parking lot
Earlier today,
Darkness fell, and all the cars
Were driven clean away.
I know I parked it here
It's green and kind of small--
Did somebody tow it off
Or leave it in the hall?
The shopping mall's deserted
The clothes are off the racks
Miles of cardboard boxes
Full of hangers, pins, and tacks....

Alternate Place

Night is starting to fall.
It's the very best time of day or night, when the sky still glows blue, but things on the ground are hard to see.  Little sounds are magnified, stars are beginning to wink.  White things, pale things, seem to glow in the darkness with their absorbed light.  The sheep will be the last thing I see, other than the glowing golden lights on the far shore, and the car lights passing on the curve along the shore.

1/22/04