Oneironaut

Catherine Chandler

My shrink said “lucid dreaming” tames
recurring nightmares. What the bleep —
it’s worth a try, like counting sheep.
And as I gave my monsters names,
the unknown landscape backed off, blurred,
I soared across the Seven Seas,
flew past the rising Pleiades,
pulled into port and slept.
pulled into port and slept. A word,
however, of advice: beware.
Though humdrum dreams may come to lull
the simmering inside your skull,
it’s merely a device. The bear,
the bug, bamboozled, may revive,
sniff out the ruse. Eat you alive.

Catherine Chandler was born in New York City and raised in Pennsylvania. She has an M.A. from McGill University, where she teaches Spanish in the Department of Translation Studies. Her poems and translations have been widely published in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.