Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Three Goats

I was standing in our shop. The yard was full of trucks coming and going with the excitement of harvest. I walked to the edge of the open shop door and looked out to the south, to the field and the gravel road. There was a man that had crossed the road onto our yard, pushing three goats, black and white towards the shop. I could not see the man's face as his head was angled downward beneath his fedora. After the goats were on their way towards me, the man took his leave. They walked in a tight cluster, the three of them, with baby horns and flitting ears, yellow eyes and noisy hooves. The goats appeared malignant in their curiosity, walking right into the shop where I had been alone with my written thoughts. Standing in the middle of the shop was a table with an open notebook; my notebook containing all my thoughts, dreams, and revelations. I didn't want them to look, but still they sifted through the pages. I backed slowly to the front door of the shop, their unified gaze turning intermittently from the notebook to me. I ran out the front door to the house. I was frantic, trying to lock all the doors to keep them from finding a way into the house. In my panic, I could not shake their gaze as it burned in my mind's eye.

"Three Goats, black and white
Sifting pages in the night.

Six yellow eyes
Locked on their prize.

With baby horns
One mother mourns.

For under guise, still telling lies
Whose father cries?"

Three Goats, black and white,
Breaking in, absent of light.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sunrise

I was sitting in the grass facing west, outside of a house near the school. I was calm, peaceful, tranquil. I stood up, turned east towards the sunrise and walked into the house. I was with a colleague and my mother was present as well. We were gathering what we wanted out of this transitioning home. This house The morning had come and with it a opportunity to move on; to move out and begin a new life with the sun that lifted the darkness.

Breath of air
 Exhaled slowly
See the sun
 Watch it rise
Pack your things
 Time to go

Friday, November 12, 2010

I Played a Game

Dreams are crazy. Even crazier are those nights when you seem to drift in and out of a half-sleep, never really waking up, but seemingly having full consciousness, making decisions, thinking about your dreams, even writing in your head.

Last night I had a strange dream, one of those ethereal scenarios where every interaction seems glazed over. I was in my elementary school, in the kitchen specifically. It was night time and here were a lot of people milling around the building playing some sort of game, the specifics of which I do not know, as it seems I was removed from the game, not really present. There was another individual with me in the kitchen, we were just standing there in the glow of the exit sign staring at each other.

What happened next is difficult to explain. We both looked up as a phenomenon was occurring overhead. The ceiling was dissipated, as if it was irrelevant. From the corner of the room, above and behind my head something began turning, revealing previously unseen cobwebs, laced with dried up flies and other prey. The web was spinning, churning towards a central point, above and behind my head, that was sucking it in, drawing it in towards itself to keep. The individual and I kept our heads lifted, amazed at the exposing of the cobwebs, and at whatever was drawing it in.

How long had the cobwebs been above and behind my head?
What had sparked the invisible machine, revealing and churning away the cobwebs filled with insects?
Plenty of parallels here, I am certain the revelations I drew from this dream are clear.

I half-awoke from this dream. As usual, I wanted to remember the dream by writing lines in my head to describe what happened. Almost without thinking, these lines were formed:

"I played a game with my past
Recoiling the invisible web
Twisting it inside out
To catch dried flies and alibis"

I kept telling myself to get up and write it down, but I never fully awoke to do such a thing. Instead, in my half stupor I recited the lines over and over, falling deep into sleep, half waking up again and reciting them again. I woke up and had them memorized and could recount what the dream had been about. It made for a strange night, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Also, I was up until midnight hacking out my bronchitis, ended up soused on cough syrup before my head hit the pillow for good. Gotta love those nights, and I gotta love drawing meaning from anything I can.