A.M.

I had my first cyber dream
woke up at 1:23 A.M.
remembered I was shopping for a watch
Saw some swanky folks
with wrists full and asked where to find that fancy brand
"Online?" I asked
"Should I look for that brand online?"
Now why, one hour and 23 minutes into my father’s 95th birthday
should I have a cyber dream about watches?
Freud said some dreams
Are the royal road
To day residue
And this residue
Was from my pre-bed, pre-trip
On-line trauma:
I had booked myself home on the wrong day.
$219 cyber-dollars later
my e-ticket was e-fixed for e-good.
My office partner restated Freud
"Some dreams are the brain pushing the delete button."
Maybe if I hadn’t been so focused on time
So anxious about over-sleeping
missing my flight to the birthday party
and Dad’s relentless tango with time
I could have slept through
the residue
to e-tranquility

The Flying Wallendas

A dream out of nowhere?
A camera’s-eye view
From the very top of a very big
Big Top
A high-wire couple
Balanced on balls
Wife walking forward
Kiss
Husband walking backward
Kiss
The kisses, I decide
Help them keep their balance
At a delicate point
Then she kicks her ball away
And balances on his
At a very strange angle
He is in control
She wobbles
He steadies her
Calm and reassuring
How nice I think that he is so tender
So there for her just when she needs him
No! She doesn’t want to be there
He is making her do it anyway
Telling her it will be fine
He’ll take care of everything
Through the pre-dawn static
I ask myself where in the world
This image was born
And I remember sorting Dad’s old videos yesterday
As we cleared out 95 years of his household
One handwritten label simply said "Wallendas"
Without the flying
Without the amazing
and I realize
That all week we have been watching an old couple
Under the Big Top
Trying desperately to keep their balance as we watch helplessly
Knowing they could fall at any moment
While they for their own complicated reasons
Expose themselves to risks that make us worry
So much
That I wake up terrified
And cannot go back to sleep.