{"id":222,"date":"2018-11-16T19:19:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/?p=222"},"modified":"2018-11-16T19:19:29","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T19:19:29","slug":"dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"DREAMS"},"content":{"rendered":"

DREAMS<\/strong>
\nI
\nFlying<\/p>\n

At night, I would spring from my bed, run and jump
\noff the cliff. Spreading my arms, I soared higher and higher,
\nabove the metal giants that strung wire across the country,
\nhigh enough to see all the earth. I would corkscrew
\nlower and lower until I had to flap my arms
\nto rise above the towers. Sometimes, I would fly over England-
\ngreen pastures crisscrossed with gray stone fences
\nand little white dots. <\/p>\n

One night, I saw my town being eaten by a dragon;
\nhouses, the hardware store, the grocery. I teased
\nthe monster towards the gas station. It bit into the pumps,
\nintense flames engulfed it but it would not die.
\nAfter several dreams, I freed the town.<\/p>\n

II
\nNight Scenes<\/p>\n

I wake after a trip to the world’s
\nsmallest grocery. You can’t use a cart
\nbut there we are, jostling them
\nthrough aisles. The grocery is stocked
\nwith unearthly fruits and vegetables.
\nI buy ghostly tubers, two at a time,
\nno matter I can’t use them. Sometimes
\nthey are jarred in oil. Bread is hundreds
\nof feet away. Left my basket somewhere,
\nmaybe it is in the road under a tree. <\/p>\n

Turn over into sleep again,
\nI am across the stream from Sara.
\nI have tight-roped across a log and she wants
\nto come over. I am talking to her, no matter
\nthat I really don’t like her and speak to her
\nas little as possible when awake. She won’t walk
\nacross the log. <\/p>\n

My hip and knee are knifed with pain,
\nI turn over again, no telling
\nwhere I will end up.<\/p>\n

III
\nRestaurants at Night
\ni
\nFashioned after the market stalls of Europe,
\nthe first one serves sandwiches.
\nPeople are always there, inside and out. I have to yell
\nto place my order, then drive by to pick it up.
\nAfter that, I drive around-not in circles-but in a cobbled square;
\nsame square each time. All left turns, then all right
\nand sometimes, left, right, left. I never eat my sandwich,
\nit just vanishes while I drive around that square.
\nSome nights the shop is in a tree lined college town.
\nI walk through a brick science building; find a grassy field
\nwith a church. Other nights, it is in a dusty country town
\nwith a parade, kids sitting on Dads’ shoulders.<\/p>\n

ii
\nNext, a five star restaurant. Fine linen: red, white, or both,
\nsilver and candles on each table. I never eat here,
\njust go down the stairs, the clientele stare at me,
\nI am dressed for the barn.
\nThis place is always in the middle,
\nwhether the eateries are stacked or on the same plane. <\/p>\n

iii<\/p>\n

The third one is the most complex, a floating dock and grill with bar,
\na swimming area that may or may not have canoes.
\nI get settled on a bar stool; peanuts and bourbon within easy reach.
\nBetween drinks, I walk along a cedar lined trail
\nthat opens into a desert valley like the Grand Canyon. I clamber
\nabout on rock walls; layered with muted brown and tan.
\nOther visits find me on a cool, leafy trail to a cave.
\nI turn around and come back.<\/p>\n

IV
\nCleaning Susan’s Lot
\nI’m here with Fred and Dad
\nto clean up her lot. We mark
\nout a triangle whose tip ends in the creek.
\nI forgot my high boots. Tires, plastic garbage can lid
\nhang in the detritus of many floods. Styrofoam cups,
\nbeer cans, we haul it all out into the dumpsters.<\/p>\n

No mind that there never was a house
\nwe start on it. We organize the clothes,
\nput them above the flood line. Maybe have a yard sale,
\ngive the toys to a pre-school. The radio’s FM antenna
\nis taped to the floor, I rip it up, and coil it on top like a snake.<\/p>\n

V
\nWaking<\/p>\n

I don’t know how I get to these places
\nor how I leave. As a child I could fly
\nnow I am grounded in grocery stores.
\nAnd how can restaurants be stacked three high?
\nSome nights I end at that colorful canyon or the cave.
\nOther nights I am left standing at the church.
\nAnd how can black be opaque?<\/p>\n

Static Movement Feb 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DREAMS I Flying At night, I would spring from my bed, run and jump off the cliff. Spreading my arms, I soared higher and higher, above the metal giants that strung wire across the country, high enough to see all the earth. I would corkscrew lower and lower until I had to flap my arms… Continue reading DREAMS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-published-poems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecatbirdsang.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}