another memorable morning

or
I could smell skunk even before I opened my eyes


since yesterday morning I’ve been reconsidering a policy of mine
you know, the one where I tell someone when I dream about them
I have faithfully done this for years, even told my friend's
hat when I dreamt about it (someone was eating a salad from it)

in the past my dreams have often been more literal regarding
the cast – symbolism seemed exhausting, really
but things have changed of late, many many things

my dreams certainly have and now my sleep is filled
with intensely vivid scenarios; there for a few nights running
it was so frightening so terrifying that I had to work hard
to remind myself of the real world though that is no less distressing

but the very nature of my dreams has changed, metaphor has returned
with a vengeance and my brain has reminded me what an unusual
specimen it can be though people do seem to mention it occasionally

yesterday morning there was a peer, a poet in my dream
our conversation was all very friendly as he leaned forward to say
something hovering close to my face, our cheeks nearly brushing,
eye to eye until he sliced into my upper thigh with a pocket knife

he stepped back, glanced down, removed his scarf and bound
the wound while the whole time continuing to say those innocuous
things people say to each other in social situations, poetry readings

it was such a strange thing to dream, this peer would not behave so
and when I woke up and thought about telling him, it didn’t make
sense – no sense at all to think this man is a threat. my imagination
is grasping more than inanimate objects to point out the obvious

(a thing I need and deny) and this morning, I knew for sure that things
had changed; I’d taken a notebook to bed – the top of the page reads
“symbolism trumps,” “another trend” and “I decide to break my policy”

another dream, another peer, another poet arrived with a playful
flirtation that quickly turned into a joyful seduction as I was held in
some engulfing music, a gentle hand cupping my breast while
the most delightful desires were whispered into my ear