Monday, March 09, 2009

The Casks

The Casks

The woman watches Jesus play with the sun. He tosses it into the air
and catches it, throws it behind his back, bounces it like a rubber
ball on the yellow pathway through the lawns and parks of Heaven.
Through his body she sees trees, bushes and an odd black sky with
unfamiliar stars. Jesus shines translucent white, bright, but not too
bright. He bounces the sun, lifts his leg so that it bounces under to
the other side. It passes through the light fabric of his robe
unencumbered. He catches it, places it back in the sky above the
earth, and turns to smile at her. He offers her his hand and she
takes it. It is warm and feels like ordinary flesh, like her
husband's hand. Like love. They descend a long series of stairs into
the darkness. She thinks Hell, and when he opens the small oaken door
and ducks inside, the scene there does not dissuade her from that
fear. Dwarfs, elves, and monsters. Wormy things sitting on benches
and stools. The room glows red in spite of darkness; a huge fire
burns in the fireplace. Gargantuan oaken casks rise behind the bar
from floor to ceiling. Everyone talks, laughs, drinks. At the bar,
Jesus orders them each a drink. His glows yellow and she watches it
enter his body, which brightens and shifts to a yellower hue. She
tips and rolls her glass, sniffing. It smells of chocolate, coffee,
and raspberries, tastes like roses. It makes her terribly sleepy, and
she awakens, of course, in bed. Her husband snores loudly. She wants
to rouse him and tell him her dream, but knows he will dismiss it.
'Just another dream about death,' he would probably say. She might
elbow him sharply for that unspoken comment if it weren't for that
glowing hand on her shoulder. Instead, she accepts another drink and
goes off to explore the future.

Mary Taitt
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This is a new PROSE POEM from two back-to-back dreams.


Here are the dreams:


Jesus with the ball

I dream that Jesus is bouncing a yellow rubber ball and it goes through his robe under his knee (which he lifts as part of a bouncing game he is playing. The ball passes through unencumbered. Jesus is bright white, his face, clothes hair, everything, and half transparent (translucent). There is a scene around him, but it too is somewhat pale--a sunny yellow walk, trees bushes and grass.

At the Dwarf Bar

I dream that I am at a dwarf bar which is full of dwarfs, elves and a variety of other beings, some quite strange. The bar is all made out of oak, oak bar, oak walls oak tables and chairs. There are HUGE oaken casks behind the bar as tall as the whole room. There is a lot going on. My attention begins with a group at the bar and sweeps along the bar and then around the room. I hear conversation but cannot remember it now.

When I wake up, it seems incongruous and somehow wrong that this dream followed on the heels of the other. One light, one dark. Not that there seemed necessarily to be anything wrong going one, although some of the beings I saw seemed a little scary. (A bit monstrous.) There was a sense that something could be going wrong there, but I did not feel certain of it--there were conflicting feelings of enjoyment and foreboding. I am not sure I am articulating this well. The scene seemed fairly happy. But strange, a bit frightening and incongruous in contrast to the previous dream.

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3 comments:

Leah said...

How wonderful to have this space to hold your illustrated dream journal!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Thanks so much, Leah. I've been keeping a dream journal for many years.

bluerose said...

Wow! I've never noticed this blog before. Not sure how I missed it.