When I dream of being other people

When I am other people in my dreams

It’s usually ominous, augural

Like the time I dreamt I couldn’t walk and found out

The next day that she

Got a diagnosis of ms –

multiple sclerosis – parading, coursing over her nerves and muscles.

A terrifying dream of getting beat up, or threatened,

Was remembered the next afternoon during a telephone chat

While he

waited for a bus

And he started yelling and cursing – warning someone to ‘back off, man!’

My heart was stopped, and panicking

I begged him to get away-

To call for the police.

Or the time

I dreamt of my teeth

Becoming like wood

Peeling and starting to crack like old shutters or window frames

At an old beach cottage

I looked it up in a dream dictionary

And learned that some Hispanic peoples

Consider problematic teeth dreams to indicate

That a loved one is not well

And then that day she

Fell

And gashed her head – her ancient and solid head full of nearly all its teeth –

The concussion was making her vomit.

That’s why I was startled when I saw you today.

Kathleen C Cooper    October 8, 2013