‘it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing
but you cannot stand in the middle of this’
Marianne Moore
Only a dream
the pressure of a hand
placed on the back of my hand
in the dark as I reach for a notebook
on a table top, I tell my sleeping self.
Do not be at all perturbed
by the distinctly warm flesh
or sound of breathing quite close to
your ear; shall I argue with my dream
voice? Or allow the scene to unfold
with the intruder taking me
by the throat or into his arms?
Reality is as it is
perceived; rightly or wrongly,
it is all the same, yet I reassure
myself in dreams most kindly, and sleep on.
Day 9 ~ FLESH
Sanaa is our host in The Imaginary Garden, with Understand That This is a Dream.
The dreams usually end before the reveal. "Dreams are real as long as they exist. Can we say anymore about life?" One of my favorite quotes but I forget who said it.
ReplyDeleteGreat quote!
Delete'Reality is as it is / perceived' – yes!
ReplyDeleteI found this one a bit spooky, having experienced similar dreams so physically vivid that it was a shock to force myself awake and find out there was no-one there. Probably the choice to stay sleeping is better.
I find the dreams which include tactile and auditory elements to be the most alarming.
DeleteThis is exquisitely drawn, Kerry!❤️ I could feel the slight tension in "pressure of a hand placed on the back of my hand in the dark," and later let out a sigh of relief and happiness as you reassure and sleep on. A most vivid and enthralling poem! Thank you so much for writing to the prompt!❤️
ReplyDeleteI think the hand in the dark taps into our latent fears - so trust my subconscious to go there. Thanks for the prompt, Sanaa.
DeleteIt was your muse, coming to inspire a poem! I love this!
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are right.
DeleteOddly, the tactile dreams do not frighten me but the ones where a voice so real, it wakes me. It is truly best to go back to sleep and pray there is no more dreaming.
ReplyDeleteNever no more dreaming for me!
DeleteI love that you went there! One isn't sure if intimacy is in play or a betrayal of power. You create a seamless shift between the dreamscape and the nightmare as we wonder how your poem will end!
ReplyDeleteSometimes one is unprepared for a moment in a dream, and this one took me by surprise.
DeleteI like your final thought, Kerry, " I reassure
ReplyDeletemyself in dreams most kindly, and sleep on." I wish I could do that. I keep trying to believe that I do dream to straighten things out in my mind but just don't waken enough to know it. Very pleasant reading here, thank you.
..
Thank you, Jim.
Delete" Do not be at all perturbed
ReplyDeleteby the distinctly warm flesh
or sound of breathing quite close ...
oh, that makes my hair rise on the back of my neck.
It was a very creepy feeling!
DeleteLove how the intruder's "pressure" "reassures" in the end. If we don't trust our dreams to take us to the Byzantium we don't know we are yet, what then? Argue? Buy a sleepy-time security system? Much too complicated.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Rather just go with it, and think about what it all means after.. my dreams often give me insights into how I am really interpreting my reality.
DeleteOh, dreams like this are so unsettling. One of my scariest had a woman I didn't know telling me we needed to hide because someone was at the door. When I woke from it, the scent of a woman's cologne filled the room.
ReplyDeleteThis is so vivid.
ReplyDelete"Reality is as it is
perceived; rightly or wrongly,
it is all the same, yet I reassure
myself in dreams most kindly, and sleep on."
I mostly remember dreams about playing frisbee. Which may point to the paucity of my dreamworld ~
ReplyDeleteThis is a dark one, Kerry. Was the hand guiding you to the notebook or was it warning you to keep still? I’m not sure I could have gone back to sleep.
ReplyDelete