Dream #2 Poem by Theresa Haffner

I dream that I go to a Reality Doctor. He says that to rebuild my inner reality I must first defeat my physical senses.

To do this he recommends a regimen of modern jazz music and abstract expressionist art (1) .

I dream that a dog has come into the burned out beach house where we are sleeping. Its legs and paws wind around my feet and ankles. Then it bites my hand with its sharp teeth. It hurts.

I turn around to face it and instead of a dog it has become a great Bengal tiger. Very huge with black stripes in its orange fur.

The tiger leaps at me and dissolves.

The Reality Doctor tells me I have successfully faced my inner tiger.

The empty swimming pool in front of the burned out beach house where we sleep has become filled to overflowing, full of algae and brackish water, with a thicket of bushes and trees growing around it.

There is a small incline where grass used to grow, now eroded into a small gully of clay and dirt that led down to the water.

I took off my clothes and got down on all fours, assuming animal form. Either a tiger or a black panther. On all fours I ran down to the water’s edge and waded in.

It was full of algae, very muddy and slimy, with green growing plants.

It didn’t smell good. “Eww..” said someone.

I ignored the smell and looked around. Soon I found a clear stream flowing through the algae.

I followed the clear stream through the algae until I got to where it entered the bog and formed a small pool of clear fresh water.

I paddled around in the dappled sunlight until I heard voices.

Someone was coming.


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(1) Two hours daily of modern jazz and abstract expressionism once a week or as often as I could get it.