An empty shop;
barren shelves
and counter curving to infinity.
Behind the counter stood my mother.
Bells like distant church bells
sounding still
from when I'd entered
as I walked across the parquet floor
towards the counter,
leaned across
to whisper something in her ear.
The bells stopped.
Quite suddenly.
As if they knew what I had seen: how
there, beyond the counter
the whole floor
heaved with crocodiles
or alligators
many layers deep.
They too were vanishing
I thought
towards infinity.
When I was older,
at the zoo,
the alligator house
was highlight of the day,
but mother chickened out.
I dream about those things!" she said.
Then later still, I understood
how Freudian that was!
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16 comments:
spooky
The first part brought on memories as I grew up in a shop The dream became scary though Nice end
I like how this ties up. I think though it might be more natural for the mother to say, "I have nightmares about those things" rather than simply saying she dreams about them. Would dreams keep her from going in to see them? Just a thought.
I didn't like the title when I first saw it - I thought it looked like the kind of essay question a school teacher would give us and then I realised that that was wholly appropriate to the narrator even if he is remembering this many years later.
Oh I really like this one, the sense of past happenings, relationships, thoughts and dreams. I once wrote down details of a dream I had, and still can't make any sense out of it!
Wonder what you wanted to whisper to your mother. It was important to you it sounds like anyway. The bells ringing is interesting. You and your mom had the same dream?
oh how the seeds of dreams are sown. Marvelous poem.
Wow, that is a vivid dream indeed, Dave! If dreams have meanings, as some people say, I wonder what THIS one means.
Quite a dream...and quite a poem. Good old alligator images. I have them frequently.
Very vivid, Dave.
That is so detailed...a bit creepy too. I sometimes have dreams so vivid and colourful that I can actually hear a conversation or a particular sound, or even feel something. It's like a movie!
Wow....eery and touching at the same time.
Rather frightening
More like a nightmare than a dream :-).
I seldom dream, and when I do it's usually about my Mother.
Well, Mother is the dominant figure in our Life both when she's here and when she's gone.
Odd dream, vividly told.
lucychili
Thanks for leaving your comment.
Marja
Hi, good to have your comment. It was very scary at th time. I had the dream repeatedly over, I suppose, the course of a year or two.
Jim
I can't remember mum's exact words - not that it matters - but the thought was that she would have been trying to play the scariness down for my sake.
I see your point about the title. It just had not struck me that it was so mu7ch the soprt of thing we'd have been given as an essay subject. It absolutely is, though!
120 socks
Thanks for the observations. I had a few dreams like that when I was young. Chaotic, totally confusing. Thesedays they seem to make more sense. I wonder why...
TechnoBabe
Yes, I've often wondered what it was I wanted to whisper. I've no idea. Of couse, I might have - once. I don't know if it was the same dream, though I had it several times and probably told her about it. I doubt it, though.
Carl
I have a feeling they are seedlings these days!
Mary
I'm sure they do have meanings, I've always thought so. Interesting though, the way the same dream supports all the different theories about what they mean!
Bagman and Butler
Interesting, they are said to be a fairly common image, but I've never encountered anyone else who has had them.
David
Thanks David.
Petite
Hi and welcome to my blog. I occasionally dream in colour, and sometimes go on hearing the "soundtrack", as it were, of the dream after I have partly woken up, but before I open my eyes. I am aware of being awake, but am still partly in the dream.
Artist Unplugged
A warm welcome to you, and much thanks for your visit and your comment.
Jenny
Hi and welcome. Good to have you visiting. Thanks for the comment.
Windsmoke
Absolutely!
DUTA
That's true. I read recently that if you dream of a person who is still with you, the dream is about that person, but if she or he has gone on the meaning is found in what that person represents to you.
Madeleine
Thanks for the comment. They are all appreciated.
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