Dreamscape*

A meeting in the center of the bridge

Weather frigid

Hoods pulled close

Cradling a paper cup

Rum and brandy

Watching the river below

As marching bands

Arrive

And leave

Releasing balloons

Of black and green.

Round autos hover about

Shining spottingly

As crazed cameramen shoot for the three AM news.

 

Her hair

Sticking out beneath a parka

One lone strand begins to grow

Passing her brow, moving down her nose

Becoming a tendril

Circling around a bridge railing

Tugging, pulling,

Causing vibrations

She stands straight

The bridge trembles

Drawn up at the center

Brandy and rum tossed over the side

Becoming electric sequined confetti.

 

She is upside down

On her head

Poised blissfully

Smiling

Announcing that her mantra

Is America

Because it is easy to remember.

 

I come from somewhere above or below her

Holding onto the first

Of rectangular receding dimensions

Struggling frenetically

To free her of her bonds.

She smiles wider

With controlled breathing

Almost whispering America, America, America.

 

Finally with golden shears

Pulled from the air

I cut the strand

Grab her hand

We bump against the sides

Of amorphous rectangles

Trying to land on sand, on snow, on green Mayan mounds

Caroming through like lottery ping pong balls.

We arrive

Uncharted

Louisiana

Bayou

Knee deep moss swamp

Parka replaced with

Lightest synthetics.

 

Surrounded by mystic holograms

Swamp witch Dreada

Dressed in spaghetti straps

Angered.

Territory invaded

While she dined with an ugly prince

In Monte Carlo.

Passing through hologram

Unmolested

Pulling off multi-colored

Leeches

Lifting our legs

Heavy swamp mud

Watching the holes fill with coke.

We arrive, exhausted

At the monorail to Graceland.