A Dreaming Vocabulary
When you’re sleeping soundly in your nightie or pajammers
and you happen to be dreaming of teacups, sharks and hammers,
if the hammer pounds the teacup, spilling tea and cream
to soak the wobbly table that is also in your dream,
you might think good fortune has cruelly run out,
but that still does not explain what the shark’s about.
A dentist in a rowboat comes rowing quickly by.
He fixes that circling shark securely with his eye,
grabs him in a deadlock and pulls him o’er the side,
doses him with novocaine, then just drifts with the tide
as he extracts the teeth that he might use to chew
on anything that he encounters: fish or squid or you!
And just as he is finishing this grisly operation,
the shark begins a session of intense regurgitation.
First a full-grown seagull, then a pink silk ballet slipper
with the ballet dancer still attached, alive but not too chipper.
The shark is still recovering so toothless and so numb it
knows not that if it wants a meal, hereafter, it must gum it.
The whole group now returns to shore. The dancer dances off.
The seagull sits in shock and the shark begins to cough.
A mariachi hits the sand, complete with his guitar.
All of them a bit in shock, wondering where they are.
And to you, caught there in dreamland, what message does this send?
Perhaps, my dear, that everything comes out right in the end!
The Day 14 prompt is: Pick one (or more) of the following words, and write about what it means to dream of these things: Teacup, Hammer, Seagull, Ballet slipper, Shark, Wobbly table, Dentist, Rowboat.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Well written love your wording
LikeLike
Thanks, Kaz.
LikeLike
100% You somehow worked them all in.
LikeLike
Once a teacher, always a teacher.. I actually get an A+ for working in the mariachi as well.
LikeLike
Hey! I’ve had dreams that crazy. And obviously, so have you or you couldn’t write about it so skillfully. You shouldn’t have eaten that fish sandwich in the evening, served at the deli by that Spanish-looking miss wearing the pink sneakers. 😉
LikeLike
Ha.. You mean that shark steak???
LikeLike
Love it!
LikeLike
This is the best poem I’ve read today. And i’m so tired. You woke me up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
After writing it, I had a long swim, a bit of lunch and slept most of the afternoon. It seems to have set me to sleep!!
LikeLike
Heheh, you cooked a wicked dream soup.
And I wrote of my five years in Italy. Today is the anniversary. This happens if you follow your dreams.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nightmare fodder, but very clever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: NaPoWriMo / GloPoWriMo 2018 – Day 14 – “Swimming Against The Tide” by David Ellis | toofulltowrite (I've started so I'll finish)
Pingback: The Dreams Might! – Nicolas Heartmann
Pingback: NaPoWriMo Day 14: Dream Dictionary – Toby's Big Oul Blog