THAT DAY

My sister Althea calls. Just moved to the Hudson Valley, where she's met a lot of Lyme cases. Their symptoms resemble mine--and hers, which have worsened. "I'm starting to believe you--we both may have Lyme. I need to get tested."

I bike to BART and ride to downtown Oakland. Bike around Lake Merritt and up the hill (hot!) to my friend Catshall's home. Her broken leg's healing--she walks and drives now. I brought her vitamin D. She lost the last bottle, but she swears to use this one. "I don't want another fracture. Ever."

We swap poetry critiques. I read her Airacuda and Etna-Shasta, or, Groom your Own Feathers. Catshall shows me her collage-poems--magazine clippings arranged into poems--funny but often eerie poems. My faves have flowing layouts, a colored wash tinting the words, textured backgrounds not flat, and spot illustrations. I urge her "Consider a book."

Lunch at Champa Garden. Yum! Laotian food is the best. Oh, those herbs.

I bike down to Lake Merritt past a gaggle of giggling teens in shorts. Hot in both senses! Lug the bike downstairs to the dungeons of BART. A train just arrived. Hurry on. Oops, wrong way! Haste makes lost. I get off in Fruitvale (no fruit or vales) just as a train home leaves. Stuck in suburbia! Long wait till the next train back to the City. Ride by a blonde girl who reminds me of my childhood playmate Ariane Lee; same open, animal aura. So cute. But I feel shy. Across the car's a girl with impossibly long caramel legs... and lowered eyes, texting away, all thumbs. Oh well. Bike home from Glen Park--tired, dehydrated, sad that I can't or won't flirt.

But poems got honed.

THAT NIGHT

Palmyra is my home. Proud city-state: Reefs of dome, palm, well and minaret Accreting, ringed around a great Oasis in adobe shimmerplain. The quiet girl upstairs slipped out of town. Months now without word, return Or rent checks! Reluctantly at last Our landlord put her penthouse flat Back on the market. Lovely view Of our slum, and that delightful coo- King reek from downstairs: the Smoked Goat Garlic Barbecue. A friend and I move in. We soon Uncover her trousseau: the hoard Underneath a loose floorboard By the silver shoes and green sheath Gown in her closet. Scarce hid: just tread. Booms like a drum. That's what a slum- Lord gets for being absentee! She was a closet dragon, then. Some can Pass for mammal, slip on skin (That slinkiest dress), bank the fire at need. I never guessed--saw just one more chain Smoking cafe sorceress. Finger through our find. One jewel's A lens for mind! A clear pecan of fire Whose thaumaturgic charge outlooms All the rest amassed. Wielded well, It could tumble our turbaned elite-- Wizards, rich, Caliph. So We hide this Arkenstone, and slow- Ly fence the lesser trove. Old gold, Mere lapis, sapphire, jade. Oh Let the rubies go. Improve our block--hire locals, dig a clean Well, raise a clinic and school. Why try To nouveau-riche it, mid the hissing old? Lift our own poor neighbors! Fortune shared Fosters might to fight elite. For local loyalty Beats a shaky put-on royalty. The gem obeys a coded spectrum of command. No manual. I can't control. But among Palmyra's feudal, predatory grand, Who can I consult? And time runs out. As lesser gems Trickle up the souks--black market, gray-- Our civic powers (secular & mage) awake. Paid vultures spiral in Until I'm pinned. Or am I? Slip with gem Down a secret stair. Emerge from the nar- Row door we all thought hammered shut By the Goat's back kitchen-archway. But From within, it yawns at finger-touch. Dragon-girl liked a bolthole! Or two-- Still unspelunked, a loose panel upstairs. A spare door to... where? I don't step out yet--hide again As a cook waltzes humming to the sink: The lovely Ariane Lee. I long to trust, But keep this entry hidden: else our flat Becomes a baby bird a-beg For burglar worm. And now they swarm! What leads out leads in. Gem pocketed, I slink the slum. Crave advice From my old judo master. His forte's disguise: "The wisest warrior you never even see! Best not to fight at all." The Powers that Be Will seek an upstart wizard-wannabe Scurrying seaward on a souped-up spell For hasty flight: some tacky magic rug Or lurid jinni's cloud (they're overfond of dye). Instead I dress as a delivery guy and pedal a slow tricyle up the street Snaking lazily up Warehouse Tel. A gaggle of jinn enslaved flap overhead. A scarlet carpet flock squawks; Vizier and palace guard. Gulp hard But patiently proceed. Ignore my dread; Slow pedal tread. Atop the hill I pause. Exchange my wheels for rollers; snake-shed my track! Then peel Off my coat, roll a slow block, and don Brown coat of that rival delivery firm. Then waddle on Slackerly o'er the Tel. Coast down the far Slope syrup-slow, for my crude rollers drag More than proper wheels. And crap suspension Adds a slo-mo nightmare's dramatic tension. But I reach my goal! For at the far hill-foot, just beyond Pal- Myra's Warehouse Gate (laxest in the wall) I meet my teacher in an alley near the Hoo- Ver Institute and Stanford Business School. I know escape's a mere initiatory step Toward magery's dim height, and yet... Whether I ever master the Gem,           I can be proud. With all Palmyra's Powers a-hound           This fox got out.

AFTERDREAM

Later, in a webcast interview, I decide I must break oath to my sister, for Early in the dragon-jewel affair I swore Ever to hide one facet of the tale. But now, To protect some kittens, I must speak out. I text Althea "You have one minute to free Me from my word. Without your yea, I'll break." Her link is live but silent. So I speak Up to save new life... and there I wake.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Oasis-city of Palmyra (modern Tudmur or Tydmyr, eastern Syria):
  1. Well, today was desert-hot... by Frisco standards (Palmyrans would laugh).
  2. Queen Zenobia of Palmyra long defied the Roman Empire.
  3. Foreign Policy magazine had photos of South Sudan--like Palmyra, it's resisted a racist, sexist regime for decades. So Palmyra may mean resistance.
  4. NOTE A YEAR LATER: now the Islamic State's occupied the town! The first Caliph in a century. Thousands fled... or long to. So my dream of fleeing Palmyra's corrupt Caliph and his rich thugs looks a lot darker now... and uncomfortably predictive.
• Dragon-girl: Puff, a recurring dream-friend and guide. That's why I trusted that she meant her trove to pass to me.
• Silver shoes and green gown: A tip o' the Wizard's hat to Oz--the green gown is Dorothy's, in the Emerald City. And the film's 'ruby slippers' were, in the original book, silver shoes. More tasteful. Not all dragons are Hollywood gaudy. A low profile protects the hoard.
• Pale jewel, a bone of contention:
  1. The Arkenstone in The Hobbit, plus hints of Sauron's Ring.
  2. My friend Catshall showed me collages including oval faux jewels--glass cabachons.
• Magic takes undistracted time to master: a troubling study in Science News proved we multitask badly; we just THINK we timeshare well, since self-evaluation degrades too. "I'm NOT drunk!" No, you're just too stupid to see you're stupid.
• Don't move to a rich quarter but fix up our slum: self-healing? Catshall and I both struggle with serious illness. But it may be literal! America's politically deadlocked; local reform is all we can do. I bike, put up solar panels, shop at co-ops, help friends get healthcare, invest in ethical funds. You?
• Secret door opens: echoes last night's dream, as Parvati power-sawed through a wall!
• Cook, back arch, secret door: a waitress in Champa Garden opened the back door, let in a blessed breeze.
• Ariane Lee: pseudonym for a childhood friend I had a crush on. Girl in the subway resembled her.
• Pedal around with powerful jewel: I took Vitamin D pills to Catshall and nagged her to supplement (her leg broke, yet docs haven't even checked bone density or D levels!) My mom would call such meddling pushy. But mom didn't take her vitamins and now she's dead.
• Keep a low profile:
  1. BART only recently let bikes on trains. One hold-out stationmaster harassed me! I still feel wary, unwelcome.
  2. Frodo, carrying the Ring through Mordor under the nose of Sauron.
• Martial arts teacher: also echoes last night's dream: Parvati loved her martial arts teacher
• Oath to my sister Althea: I promised not to bug her about Lyme anymore. Now she suspects she has it!
• Web interview: probably the dream's prompting "Write me up, post me on the web!" A long complex piece--a lotta work. I'm reluctant. But I'd better do it, even if it takes me months. Mastering jewels takes time & work.
• Comedy aside, the dream took a long Jungian view. I crept out of poverty, then from oppression by the rich; mastering the jewel was left for future dreams. Freedom first!
• ACTION: Dragon Jewel urges patience (and avoiding experts) on two levels.
  1. My personal struggle's health--mine and my friends'. Healing major illness takes time. (As does poetry. So keep swapping critiques with Catshall and Patagia!)
  2. But doesn't my dream reflect America's class war too? Not just Mideastern woe! We fix up our run-down neighborhoods and try to master magic (from solarpanels to web) with no manual... while our crass masters wheel like buzzards overhead.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites