Saturday, September 14, 2013

Excerpts 7

The Excerpts series are poems that are written directly from dreams. If I can remember them clearly enough to write them I feel there is a significance to that. Whether or not there is dialogue is the deciding component in them becoming part of the series because generally the dialogue, which is always minimal, is where the message is for me. Really they are just stories, things that I dream into being.


 
"Yes, dear"
 
 
As we moved through the house
we passed and open bedroom door.
There were many characters moving about this place
but these three caught my eye.
They lay together across the bed
in middle of the light of day.
But it may have been night, hard to tell
there was no telling time in this place.
He was a dark shock of wavy hair
face down on the pillow.
She in a mask, to keep out the light
golden hair and manicured toes.
Between them a child lay fast asleep
like a wall dividing them.
She cried, “this light will not let me sleep”
he mumbled, “yes dear, I know”.
I encountered them often during my stay
always together as three.
Moving about the daily routine
the function and conformity.
You could see her staring wistfully
across the street from the front yard.
As he performed some mechanical task
she painted pictures in her mind.
The child always oblivious, just happy
that they were all there.
And maybe that was the reason
like being caught in a snare.
In the kitchen I heard them again
she, speaking in hushed tones.
“This ache in me is gnawing
chewing away at my bones.”
I was unsure that the words
were even loud enough to hear.
As if on cue, he answered her though,
in that monotone voice, “yes, dear”.
She met me eye to eye
more than once throughout my stay.
In this strange little house with too many rooms
and so many stories to tell.
I couldn’t understand why they were here
this oddly made family of three.
Her eyes kept pleading to tell me
was she simply waiting for me?
Waiting for me to ask
waiting for me to hear?
Or did she just need someone to listen
without the reply, “yes, dear”.
 
 


7 comments:

  1. mmm we all need someone to listen and those rote responses let us know when they are not really listening but placating...and that feels so cold and hollow...and perhaps she needed just a bit of flame to warm her hands...

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  2. Your dream definitely follows a surreal path. I find myself wondering about this house with many rooms and about this family of three. I wonder if you find meaning within this dream poem for yourself, wonder what message this poem is telling you. Maybe the ending two lines is the meaning..that would make sense to me.

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  3. Dreams are intriguing...and vivid ones, such as yours, seem determined to tell us something...and I think she did want a response deeper and more true and was looking to you for that, Andrea.

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  4. Dreams are so interesting--the house with too many rooms--the aches--the single response--there is so much here--and all of it on this deeper level

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  5. Yes, she is needing to be heard. Very evocative dream. Scrolls out wonderfully against the gray background, reading it is like unwrapping a package.

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  6. i like this dream like atmosphere. dreams can be so inspirational. this way lovely to read.

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  7. Supposedly, everyone in a dream is a version of yourself. You know what each represents and what each is trying to say. My take would be that the child in you is happy. The man, the provider in you, is unsatisfied with his importance in your life and wishes to have more control. The woman, the poet in you, wishes to speak freely and be heard/appreciated yet feels oppressed by responsibilities and duties that interferes.
    IMHO

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