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....

Things That Are Evil

9/7/03


Sugar seduces
with its quenching sweetness
Island memories
Of fruit falling from the trees
settling on hips as fat;
Slowing natural energy,
Imprisoning us.

Though shoes are useful
for mountains, rocks, cold, nails and
they help us travel---
When they become convention,
required for entrance,
objects of fashion...
They separate us from the Earth
And lead us to believe that
she is not our friend.
We are her master, we think,
and not her servant
or her protector.

Clocks are evil, yes,
dividing moments,
sweet, long spontaneity
of experience
born of natural magic
into hours, minutes, seconds---
cutting short our bliss.
Enormous expectations
stuffed into each hour
swiftly subduing
sweet experience of life.