Saturday, July 19, 2025

I dreamed 
there was this boy
& he had to climb this very
STEEP incline
to GET to
the place he was living 

it was a house
with a bunch of girls living there 
& at first I thought they were
his sisters
BUT 
I don't think that they were
I THINK it was 
JUST
a bunch of young people 
in almost a flop house
SITUATION 

SO
he climbs past the car of girls
CAR parked on the side of
a STEEP hill
who are
LOOKING to cause him
TROUBLE 
& as he goes by them
he pulls himself 
UP
using the car

& then
PERHAPS it
FALLS
or perhaps he IMAGINED it
he's NOT SURE 

he sneaks in his house
the other girls have all gone to sleep
& he goes in his room
there are two mattresses on the floor
& he has trouble 
getting by
BUT 
his mattress is the FAR one

he has something that he constructs
from PIECES that form
a FIGURE that is
a small nite lite
& he looks out the window 
which is REALLY 
a sliding glass door

& FIRST he SEES
a beautiful courtyard 
BUT THEN 
it is an alley
& CARS
are driving by
SPLASHING muddy water
on the sliding glass door 
which oozes in
& SOAKS
into his mattress 

he has this bit of something in his mind

elefant chanson
which he loves
& cherishes
& protects

it comes from a SIGN he saw somewhere 
& at SOME point 
he started paying 
MOST of his
MONEY
to KEEP the SIGN from being 
TORN DOWN

BUT 
THEN
people decided it had some
MAGIC 

I'm payed 
EVERY month
NOT to REMOVE it 

& people started trying to 
FIGURE out what 
the MAGIC was

& FINALLY 
SOMEONE came
with a BUNCH of MONEY 

BOUGHT the SIGN

& WHEN they couldn't FIGURE out 
the MAGIC 

CAME LOOKING for HIM

& the SIGN
DIDN'T 
HAVE
ANY
intrinsic magic

it ONLY had
MAGIC 
to HIM

& NOW the SIGN was GONE
& THEY were hunting him
to MAKE him
TELL them
HOW 
to use the magic

when it was ONLY keeping him
from DESPAIR 
that was the ONLY magic

& NOW
things were
WORSE than EVER

& REALITY was SHIFTING around him
HE wasn't SURE what was REAL

HAD he caused those girls to FALL 

WAS the SIGN
MAGIC 

he lay on his gritty mattress 
looked at the little nite lite
listened to the sound
of the girl breathing 
in the bed next to him

& WONDERED