When given long stretches
of unconsciousness,
my dreams go to places
uncomfortable
and disturbing.
Technically
they’re probably
nightmares,
always involving
characters
on the periphery of
my life,
doing disturbing things
in squalid, macabre
circumstances,
and they look at me
like I’m supposed
to know why
they’re there,
like I’m supposed
to be
one of them.
If I have the
luxury,
I’ll lie in bed
and
interpret them:
they’re mostly
about ugly things
that
I don’t want
to think about,
things
I don’t let
my rational
entertain
when conscious.
So I allow my mind
to dissolve the memory,
let the images
slip away
into my unconscious,
dreading
with the certainty
of gravity,
they’ll be back,
knowing they’re
never fully erased,
never totally forgotten.
[Posted for #OpenLinkNight at dversepoets.com, my poetic home away from home on the internet.]
[Posted for #OpenLinkNight at dversepoets.com, my poetic home away from home on the internet.]
true that they never go away...was just telling someone the other day we often overwrite them but that means they are still there right under the surface...waiting..thus when we are not disciplined of mind they do tend to crop back up..
ReplyDeletegood to see you sir...smiles.
That's why I'm glad I have little yapping yorkies that wake me up every few hours - so I don't usually remember my dreams.
Deleteloved your poem today - makes me long for xmas memories I never had. - Mosk :)
Ha, Mosk, I do know what you mean. You describe it so vividly. I seldom remember dreams, as I so often wake up.....which is probably a blessing. But I have had such hauntings as this, which makes me know firsthand your words ring true.
ReplyDeleteThanks, and may you shake those nightmares!
Deleteyep...they're never gone...and we usually don't allow them to surface...still they seem to drift somewhere and in unexpected moments pop up.. i need an eraser for them...smiles
ReplyDeleteI used to try and erase them with booze, but that didn't help. :( Thanks.
DeleteI think I have the same nightmares--what a great write!
ReplyDeleteThanks - and I'm sorry.
DeleteYeah there are some that are just so weird, if that is the word for it, that surely crop up and are always there in the background.
ReplyDeleteIt's the disturbing ones that really shake me. *I* thought of that?
DeleteSometimes my dreams are so vivid... and seem to be little splices of things here and there that are going on in my life, but all muddled up.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to describe them - splices of life. I file like i"m watching a blooper reel from hell when I dream. Thanks.
DeleteDreams that I remember are always laced with anxiety, frustration and fear. I've learned not to eat cooked cheese at night!
ReplyDeleteYour comment made me laugh - yes, I'm at that age when I have time limits for when I can eat certain foods too. Cooked cheese, like pizza? What a tragedy! Thanks.
DeleteBruddah mine, yes, the nightmares. Actually, they were my first clue to bad stuff from years back.
ReplyDeleteBut mostly they are flesh-eating zombies or members of the Tea Party trying to make me "see the light"! They are indelible in my mind. True, I can't remember where my sneakers are, but I can tell you all about the Jimmy Swaggart dream I had last night!
Loved this. So real, so true. Thanks for showing the vulnerability - rare quality in men these days... Peace, Ameleh
http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/12/04/missing-charlotte/
Yes, amazing what the mind will call up at the strangest times. I'm of the belief we never forget anything, just can't recall it when we need it. Thanks, Ameleh.
DeleteSuch a relate-able poem, it reminds me of a terrible dream I had where my sister was a were-pig and I had to protect her from another one. I had to force myself to dream of something else, it was so scary.
ReplyDeleteA were-pig? Now that's fascinating. I wish I could forget some of the imagery I've dreamed. Thanks.
DeleteIt is rare that I have such dreams (or at least rare that I remember them!)... but when I do, they are so hard to shake!
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree, and overall I'd rather not have them at all!
DeleteMy dreams often turn into poems - some sweet, some not so. If I published the not so on my blog I think I may lose some readers. lol I liked this very much, Mosk.
ReplyDeleteOh if I only could have poem-worthy dreams. My dreams are a mix between Fellini and Tobe Hooper. Thanks for the kind words.
DeleteI think that's what poetry is for... to let them out, give them a way to rise to the surface. In that small way, we let them go, a little.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's what booze is for! Seriously, I think most art is a way of working out the subconscious, a little.
DeleteOn the periphery of consciousness, when all the little troubling things dance the edges of our dreams. Call it stress, unfinished business, or what you will. It is so rare that I get a solid night's sleep. I totally get this.
ReplyDeleteThanks - and for the record I was up each hour last night until my wife "put me to bed." ;)
DeleteBuddah, I never eat spicy food two hours before going to sleep, because I will inevitably have a nightmare. Good write.
ReplyDeletePamela
I ate a spicy carnitas (pork) burrito too late and I paid last night. Thanks.
DeleteOh, I don't want them to come back for you, poet friend! yuck! I find that I don't remember too many of my dreams, and the ones I do remember, are never good. ! Thanks for the poem!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I can only remember a handful of dreams - perhaps that's where deja vu comes from... thanks.
Delete"and they look at me
ReplyDeletelike I’m supposed
to know why
they’re there" ... Ha! If only we had the answers they needed.
"If I have the
luxury,
I’ll lie in bed
and
interpret them" ... I first read this as interpreting the characters, not the dreams. Very cool.
Never truly erased. So true. I like this, Mosk.
Thanks Jasmine -
DeleteI try to interpret everything and make it relate to everything else - this usually ruins any plan to go back to sleep.
Great, great poem about nightmares and the things we don't want to face. Well, in the sense that those things could ever be considered "great."
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteA thoughtful piece about dreams...and how quickly we forget them, unless we immediately write them down. Dreams are so important...coded resolutions to the day's problems. It's a whole other world. Nice write!
ReplyDeleteI used to keep a dream journal in an effort to manifest lucid dreaming. It kind of worked, but haven't been able to get back to it (lucid dreaming). Thank you!
Deleteyep-- the title says it all. everyone's talking about dreams today, for some reason...
ReplyDelete