Friday Poem

The Book of Dreams

If you dream of scissors,
two women, one light, one dark,
are whispering your name.

If you sit on the front stairs
at the bottom of the sea,
you are going to spend your life
waiting for someone.

If you are on your knees in a closet,
digging through a pile of shoes
you are going to learn something
you do not want to know.

“Madre, dime, what if I dream of the moon?”

“The moon is a woman, Hijo,
she comes, she goes,
she changes her mind.
She has power over women.
This will give her power over you.”

The book of One Thousand and One Dreams Explained
is the only book in our house, and every word is true.
It's big, so big you have to climb a chair
and use both hands to lift the cover—
both hands turn the pages
that stretch out like wings.

by Richard Garcia
from
Touching the Fire
Anchor Books, 1998