1: MOM

I was a mother with a toddler who was just learning to walk. We were sitting in a tree together... but the wrong tree.

For in this tree dwelt a spirit named John, who took the shape of a huge disfigured walking-stick insect. John tries to kill anyone who climbs his tree! He chased us all the way down the trunk, gaining on us, until I grabbed my baby and leapt to the ground. Heavy broken branches rained down on us. I took the blows, shielding my child...

2: FIRE CHIEF

Much later, in a different dream, I was the chief of the fire department. We got called to the scene of a wildfire. John's tree was in the heart of it, burning brightly. I got my team moving to put out the rest of the fire...but I left his tree to burn.

When it was reduced to embers clinging to a charred husk, I returned, crunching over the black waste, to apologize to John... and exorcise him from this place for good.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• John the ghost: 1. I was humming "John Brown's Body" before bed. 2. As soon as I wake up, another song starts going through my head:

  Have you seen the ghost of John,
  Long white bones and the rest all gone?
  Oo-oo oo-oo oo-oo oooooo...
  Wouldn't it be chilly with no skin on?

• Giant scary bug with long spindly arms is from an anthology of Alex Grey's work that I was looking at yesterday in art class.
• Burning trees also from Alex Grey--a painting of Gaia on fire.
• The sticks that fell on us had a particular shape; they were from a work by the Time Artist. We watched a video in class about him yesterday.
• The twisty tree and atmosphere of the first dream remind me of Susan Seddon Boulet's pastel drawing Skywatcher, which is on my wall.
• So... taking in too much art by others may hurt my little child--my own art. This doesn't sound like a good outlook for the class I'm taking...
• Forest fire: Anger? I'm all 'burned out'? Well, at least I'm equipped to deal with it, as fire chief.
• Let 'his tree' burn: Let history burn! My teacher has been immersing us in art history, thinking it'll inspire us. But I'm full of ideas already! What I really need is to let my art grow and develop its own identity, not crush it by comparing it to other artists' famous lifeworks. The poor thing is just getting off the ground!

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