dreaming of

dreaming of long paths in a green wood,
i'm one of a few finding my way but
we're separately seeking. i fly low,
at some points.
i come to the top plateau of
a waterfall, and realizing i can't go down, i must go back
up over a slate rock ridge, and as i realize this, others
show up. we help each other back onto the path.

another scene, i'm traveling - on a ship or
a train? - with a wealthy, haughty, older crowd.
and sitting at a round dining table in a dining car or
room, and one individual is more alone than the others,
and for a reason: he's a bit obnoxious. but he makes a point:
he went from world traveler to all alone in an airplane bathroom,
and someone mis-interprets and finds him even more obnoxious,
but i re-interpret on his behalf, and make sure he is
understood correctly. and i'm happy to play that role.

another scene, much like the path, i am with some friends,
some strangers, in a massive, gargantuan home owned
by two older women. dark wood, dark rugs, antiques, all
old and stately and dark. we are let loose in the house for the night,
and i explore room to room, we all do, as though there is
an endpoint, though we leave once we find a way out.
more helping each other, and a laotian boy becomes enamored with me
when he thinks he hears me speak his language to a young girl.
and as i so often do, i allow him to project upon me, and
see what he wishes, and be pleased, knowing that i may one day
break my back arching so far to be what i am not. i never admit to
what he suspects, but i never deny. just smile my knowing smile
and let him be.

one other piece: at the end, in early morning, we leave. but there is a
very very very tiny dog. a golden retriever or some other long-haired
classic, standing on a very tiny book by the foyer. he's small enough to
palm, and quite alive although my instinct is that he's really
a human in canine form, and that he understands
quite well human action and speech. anyway, the owner of the
home encourages me to take him with me and keep him,
and i seriously consider it (he comes with a short paragraph of
instructions printed on the back of the book, including
"wet with finger twice a day" to keep clean, and i've so been wanting a
dog and this might be the ticket to a low-maintenance pet),
but the woman senses my hesitance and decides not to push,
but offers to keep the dog there for me if i want to come back.

wierdwierdwierd.

to be warm

to create space, to make love
tangible, to scatter powdered sugar
over those i love and have before.

to sink down in feather-fed
pillows, to eat with gusto,
to breathe with spontaneity.

to forget with patience and
remember with my head
tilted to one side, accepting. to bury the
memories in years of sand and dig them
out from time to time, to find
the images scratched and grainy now
and the words muffled. to wipe away the
sand and see the rough sketch,
the general significance, to let the details go.

to sit on the sand, over memories,
to breathe in the sun and be
warm.