A Few Poems and a Dream

The first poem I've decided to share was inspired in part by Gloria Anzaldua's chapter of Borderlands/La Frontera called "Tlilli Tlapali: The Path of the Red and Black Ink", and in part by a dream I had.

the red and black lines

like veins have reached me

among others

they crawled here over the earth

over their mother who has become unkind

they have bled here

and elsewhere

they have pulled me

onto the path of red and black ink

sinking into my legs

mixing the blood

telling stories of terrorized landscapes

which will spill onto the pages

The second poem I'm posting is one written about my home in Thunder Bay, which coincidently is a border town. My family owns over a hundred acres of field and forest far enough outside the city that you can see the milky way lit up like a pathway in the sky on a clear night. 

the spirit of this place haunts me.

it follows me down the path,

past the poplar and the birch.

hiding just out of sight in the pine,

it jumps and shines behind the moon,

reaching for me like whispers,

or smoke, or memories. 

I'll include more poetry every now and then when I get the chance. Till then, let me share an anecdote. 

I mentioned that the first poem was based, in part, on a dream. Most of my writing sparks from dreams, which is largely because I dream so frequently. Chronic nightmares plague me, perhaps stemming from the materials I've been reading or perhaps I simply need to eat more vegetables. Either way, a few months ago I  was hardly sleeping because of them and running myself ragged. One night (when I did actually sleep) I dreamt I had a green ring. The dream stuck with me and I couldn't stop thinking about the ring. All I knew was that it had a silver band and a green stone, and that for some reason, I needed it. 

After a few weeks of having the idea of this ring stuck in my head I went to the local hippie store and found one that suited the description. The label said "Malachite" which meant nothing to me at the time.


Malachite

When I got home I thought I'd look up the stone's meaning, just for a laugh. You can imagine how surprised I was to find out that Malachite supposedly helps to rid nightmares. I found this eerily suitable and read on. Looks like it's also meant to protect travellers, which is also incredibly suitable because I made the final decision to go to Arizona this coming spring a few days after my dream. I read on. The most notable place in North America to get this stone (which one assumes is the source of the rind itself) is the South Western region of the United States of America. Notably, Arizona. 

I'll have to start taking my dreams more seriously.