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Dream of Koa Returning

dreamed 2009 or before, by W.S. Merwin

Sitting on the steps of that cabin
that I had always known
with its porch and gray-painted floorboards
I looked out to the river
flowing beyond the big trees
and all at once you
were just behind me
lying watching me
as you did years ago
and not stirring at all
when I reached back slowly
hoping to touch
your long amber fur
and there we stayed without moving
listening to the river
and I wondered whether
it might be a dream
whether you might be a dream
whether we both were a dream
in which neither of us moved

EDITOR'S NOTE

This is from The Shadow of Sirius by W.S. Merwin, 2009, Copper Canyon Press. Most of its poems concern old memories; I found them austere and without sensory color, as if Merwin has retreated into his head. The handful of dream poems are still sober, but subtly more colorful and sensuous; all are full of living things and nearly all have connections to creatures.

--Chris Wayan



LISTS AND LINKS: dream poetry - friends - dogs - memory - revenants (loved ones returning) - lucid dreams - more W.S. Merwin: Far Along in the Story - Another Dream of Burial - Without Knowing

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