WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

Let us examine the symbolism of dreams

  under the bridge

The falling dream. The flying dream.
The dream in which you lose your teeth.

The abandoned kittens, the lost dogs,
the infant floating in its cradle on the lake.

The woman weeping, alone, in the forest.
The beast with an urgent message,

a critical missive you don’t understand.
You fall, and someone offers his hand.

You reach out, but your fingers slip
through one another like light, like water.

You walk through the rooms of your life.
They are laid out, one by one, like a rail-

road flat with no corridors, no hallways.
You watch your own life pass as though

in a mirror, somehow reversed, somehow
not quite as it was. You arrive at now.

You wake in the fog of morning, slanted
bars of light on the ceiling. These dreams

wrap the shoulders of your waking hours,
a hooded shawl for your long, flat days.

 

[I posted this too soon; I’m revising in place…]

[Tuesday morning: Revised, again.]

15 responses to “Let us examine the symbolism of dreams”

  1. Jo Avatar
    Jo

    beautiful flow

    Reply
  2. Crafty green Poet Avatar
    Crafty green Poet

    You’ve captured the atmosphere of dreams perfectly

    Reply
  3. Christine Avatar
    Christine

    You wake in the fog of morning, slanted
    bars of light on the ceiling. These images
    wrap the shoulders of your waking hours.
    You wear this shawl through your long days.
    You seal the poem well here. Dreams are intriguing, a great source for poems, in my opinion.

    Reply
  4. Cathy Avatar
    Cathy

    Very haunting poem. You makes you wonder if it’s better to just stay in bed and pull the cover over your head.

    Reply
  5. paisley Avatar
    paisley

    this was lovely… so lovely in fact… i wish i had written it myself….

    Reply
  6. PetMono Avatar
    PetMono

    ah dreams. both the great ones and the bad ones. do they really mean anything? someone who charges me for their opinions will say “most definitely!”
    the writer conveyed several vivid scenes with words. well, that’s what writers do. ask the late night hosts at the moment.
    i notice, the writer’s dreams are different than mine. maybe i can suggest content for another dream post! here goes…
    can’t move, stuck.
    steps out of hotel with no address, phone #, name of hotel! what city?!
    waiting for a train: one by one each bag is creatively stolen.
    did not say something important to someone important to me when the chance was there – many chances.
    can’t dial the phone number on these damn little phones – and it’s a life threatening situation!
    waiting years to be discharged from military obligation, waiting for college diploma.
    forgetting who my children are.
    going to a restaurant and only deep fried entrees on menu.
    yes, these are the “great” dreams…
    although…i do enjoy it when i am : flying, making the winning basket, running without tiring, executing the perfect spinning hook kick, hitting the perfect five iron, helicopter skiing, salsa dancing, making the most meaningful gesture.
    ok, there is content here. shrinks not apply.
    sbpoet, your insightful prose inspired a moment here. thank you for that…

    Reply
  7. Linda Jacobs Avatar
    Linda Jacobs

    The simplicity of these dream images is haunting and so perfect!

    Reply
  8. SB Avatar
    SB

    Oh! I have those dreams, too — the hotel dreams, the train, plane, and telephone dreams.
    “making the most meaningful gesture” — now, there’s a line for a poem.

    Reply
  9. Fran Avatar
    Fran

    “You walk through the rooms of your life”
    From great age these lines speak to me–thank you, Fran

    Reply
  10. gautami tripathy Avatar
    gautami tripathy

    I think dreams are symbolic. Sometimes they prepare for what is to come. I should know…

    Reply
  11. Niki Avatar
    Niki

    “These dreams wrap the shoulders of your waking hours”…I loved this line. Some days a dream hangs over me all day. I perhaps can’t even remember it, but a feeling persists like I have one foot in another world that I’m not part of.

    Reply
  12. SB Avatar
    SB

    I’m still not satisfied with the last line. Stay tuned for even more revision…

    Reply
  13. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    Perfect. Do you wonder, or wish, at times, if perhaps your dreams are dreaming you?

    Reply
  14. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    This is a delicious one to read aloud; I love the rhythms of it. Most of these lines have four stresses, in my mouth and ear (some have three), and that gives the poem a kind of internal motion that I like a lot.

    Reply
  15. SB Avatar
    SB

    Anne: Yes!
    Rachel: Thank you for devoting that level of attention — your observations might help me with revising the last lines…

    Reply

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