Sunday, September 5, 2010

dream

need to know:

I took a nap this afternoon
        here is my dream:
           
            I am in a story that seems
            strange to me
            about a country
            far away across the sea
            and by a sea

            there’s never any rain
            and nothing grows
            not even lichens
            on the rocks      
            the people there
                            care for birds.
            they keep the rocky rookeries
            for herds
            of smoke gray
                            crested sea birds
and in the long winters they burn
bricks of dry and ancient bird shit.
when the nights roll gray the clock around
under coverlets of woven down, they lie
to sleep on neat and warming ash heaps


Thursday Prompt #18, Need to Know Basis

10 comments:

flaubert said...

Was this really a dream? If so, It is quite interesting.
Pamela

pwf said...

the dream seemed to be about someone searching for a home in a foreign country. she wanted above all else to have a stone fireplace. i woke with the image of ladylike feet peeking from a blanket, resting like a head on a pillow on a low cone of gray ashes.

Anonymous said...

That was a magical dream, much more complete than any I have. I wonder what an analyst would say about it. Whatever, it made a terrific poem.

pwf said...

my dreams are often linear, cinematic. of course this could be that the dream editor discards anything that seems illogical, preferring that the silliness move into the waking world

Mary said...

I enjoyed your dream, and how clever you were to work it into a poem!

Diane T said...

Your work is wonderful, and I do think that truth can be found in one's dreams.

Anonymous said...

I love working with dreams and this one is rich with meaning and symolism. I believe that dreams are messages from the psyche to the dreamer and can and do play a part in our whole process. You turned this one into a beautiful piece of poetry. Really good work,

Elizabeth

Anonymous said...

I found these lines captivating and evocative:

and nothing grows
not even lichens
on the rocks
the people there
care for birds.
they keep the rocky rookeries
for herds

Even in an area where nothing grew the people took care of the birds. I like the way the people's humanity is not stunted by the barrenness.

I like this poem.

Linda

Unknown said...

"they burn/bricks of dry and ancient bird shit" when, of course, they should be using it to try and make things grow! Your dream poem has an air of ancient knowledge.

gautami tripathy said...

That is some dream! I liked it.

commas in the pauses