Dreamscaping

This morning after tossing through the fourth

episode of the same perturbing dream––

the one where I’m the teacher who can’t remember

what or how to teach––I woke up to the dogs

are barking and the caravan moves on.

Yesterday dawned with Life is a good idea,

the day before, If we’re meant to fall,

make the landing soft. Funny how lines

sitting in my snippets file wind their way

into wake-up time. I understand soft landings

are a good idea but dogs and caravans mystify,

so I track the proverb down. It claims progress

moves on despite critics’ rants and raves,

which reminds me of what the Buddha said,

People with opinions bother everyone.

Tonight I hope my dream will lounge me

beneath a plumeria where a sea turtle

stops by to complain about graying coral reefs.

She’s the one I freed from a fishing line once

upon a sleep. I like this dream a lot. I don’t have

to know anything except turtle-speak, a language

with few syllables: fish, sharks, air, sand,

seaweed, humans, waste, bags, lines, fear.

I hope, after the turtle calms down

and strolls away, the waking dawn will ask,

Which side of the horizon did you sleep on?

(First published in LitShark, 2022)

Carolyn Martin is a recovering work addict who’s adopted the Spanish proverb, “It is beautiful to do nothing and rest afterwards” as her daily mantra. She is blissfully retired—and resting—in Clackamas, Oregon. Her poems have appeared in more than 200 publications throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia.