In and Out of Consciousness

1 Warm bed on a cold night, 
2 souls drifting into a nether . . . 
3
4 Here now (in-between) 
5 and somewhere else soon,
6 criss-crossing down to the corner store, 
7 heels clicking and no touch of the plastic world,
8 soon a near-reality exists
9 outside of physicality –
10 where locomotive meaning is 
11 couched metaphysically . . . 
12
13 Sinking in . . . 
14
15 Rubber-necked head fallen
16 into a dream cushions the actuality 
17 that nothing is as it seems 
18 in front of a screen. 
19 The perception of the ephemeral 
20 is counterintuitive;
21 a dream lets the self be alone  
22 as it sings to itself 
23 with the windows open on a warm night . . . 
24
25 As if my eyes are open 
26 when they are not, 
27 my bare skin feels 
28 what the willows know 
29 that the possums hide up under the porch 
30 roaming out under the electric lamp light.
31 The willows sway tight-lipped, 
32 down by the waterfront,
33 perfectly happy being silent 
34 when the world needs to be still . . .
35
36 A day in a dream comes 
37 without regard for linear time;
38 and upon that porch, you and I know
39 the willows use the breeze to talk to each other.
40 As then is now and as now is real, 
41 I follow along in reverence:
42 inconspicuous possum tracks up the stairs carry meaning,
43 for heavy feet shoulder a weight not measured in pounds . . . 
44
45 With that heavy foot, I feel your warm feet under the covers.
46 A waking breath before succumbing to sleep in the next . . . 

12.13.20