Other-worldly dreams keep me at peace
pressing lips, familiar amalgamations
possess piercing and forgettable eyes.
It seems as though appearances
are constantly changing,
a million copies of his face.
Some of these strangers
resemble neighborhood boys
playing with bright plastic toys.
Pretending nothing happened?
Telling lies for we must not tell the truth?
Every time you accidentally mention my name,
brush me off your shoulder, edge a little closer
on a floral couch…
When I rested my head on your shoulder
on the train I wished you were mine again.
Even if you were disguised behind
a handsome strangers eyes,
the softness of your shirt gave rise
to the silentest of cries.
I could not believe that this dream
was sure to leave. I look for you night
after night until I get your face just right.
It’s comforting, there is no ring.
Sometimes, these strangers speak what you cannot.
Sometimes I think: I think, you like him, I think he likes you.
Thanks, smiling foreign dude!
A butterscotch shot, you’ll feel it in your sleep
with no hint lingering on your waking kiss.
I roll out of bed and try to remember
if I was dreaming of now or September,
under oak and apple trees
while we run from cops, skin our knees.
If this were the last moment of my life,
I would be sad. Accepting that this moment,
aside from all the noise of machines in the distance and
the strange fellow with the grey hooded sweatshirt
that just walked by is perfect:
I am sitting in the shade. I hear the spinning spokes
of a ten speed bike as I want for the clock to strike
the afternoon with four loud booms.
Chimes that string the leaves together
only so they can grow weak and detach…
I am sitting in the shade I hear the spinning spokes
of a ten speed bike as I want for the clock to strike
the afternoon with four loud booms.
Chimes that string the leaves together
only so they can grow weak and detach.
Parking lots. Lockers. A million high schools blurred into one.
A twisted hallway, a tiny dark classroom.
Chalkboards containing unfamiliar names, dates, words…
I’m failing to understand the dream,
begin noticing people from reality.
A missing tooth in a red plastic treasure chest.
I must put these ideas and more to rest.
Amusement parks complete with Ferris wheels, and
dizzy rides spring up allowing me a place to hide.
We drive on highways or down gravel roads,
across giant bridges but every time we swerve.
I fly through windshields. I wake, raking air
into breaking lungs.
Impossible details,
imprints of my sleeping life
interpreted in waking life…
It goes on like that until I click
the light pulling on a grimy white string
ending up in various versions of my bedroom
with all the lost antique furniture.
I get so lost. Confused. Then my mind turns to you.
Blank. Smiling in a sleepy state, demons set to rest
until I wake.
3 in the morning and I miss her. Been over a month since I heard her say a word, more like a purr. I turn over only after knowing the ghost has gone… Memories vibrate out of buzzing ears. “Is she dead or alive? How many times did I dream of her tonight?”
I laughed at you
you smiled back,
and all I wanted
was to take a nap.
You make me feel
like we are ten,
and we are sneaking
out again.
I lose many minutes,
dreaming of you,
and many more thinking,
“how impossible…”
“…true.”
I wish it were different,
with a tinge of the same.
Same smile, different meaning,
real kiss, not a dream.
