The encyclopedia of dreams 

other-wordly weight of a book--

seated on my 8-year-old knees--
a thousand page child-- 

number my heels--

my uncle bought a lexicon--
an encyclopedia of dreams--

night-blue shaw--
fading coin-face of the moon-- 

sulking 
becoming a bookmark--

whose planet did we
lose is the flyleaf?

press gravity
caress dust jacket--

i wanted to be 
as hard cover sturdy--
but (again) i find myself
malleable-boned--

we dreamed ourselves a series of 
answers-- 

how is it that we became encyclopedic?

only my uncle was allowed
to page through the book

i would sit by him
at his sketch table & relay 
the previous night's dreams--

combing for omens--

i saw dogs & glass tables &
mountains of my father's 
green beer bottles

& the book read 
guardians & inheritance of
revered objects-- 

this is
our furniture--

our future with legs--

the principle of authority--

the vessel--

we became lost among
definition-- talisman nomads--

my uncle the fortune teller
with his great big book
beneath the carcass 
in his bedroom 
we only read dreams together--

it is a task best not pursued alone 

but i was pink &
soft-elbowed & obsession wracked
with page-touch desires--

book carving girl--

& what kind of paper does
god write a dream on?

i had a deeper fear
that i'd find the
dream book empty

thousands of white pages--

wordless turn & turn 
& turn
it wasn't so much a fear
of lies 
as it was a fear
of being un-readable--

of language's sly escape--

coat-hanger lock picked 
into his bedroom 

startled by his realm--
wandering socks 
blanket mountain ridge

the book--half-open
by the side of the bed--

held my breath
before stepping inside

one foot at a time--

words floating up around me--

deep in definition--

printing parable 
over skin-- 

let's fulfill prophecies--
i spoke eight tongues
as my uncle walked in the room

& he noticed 
nothing out of the ordinary--

as i slept submerged &
unnoticed-- 

book-spine heavy 
in dream