Last Night

---

I dreamt a dream of me
my head, body, and all the rest
viscous terror upon finding my seam
while dreaded I spy
the rot that lies beneath
stiff hands plumb deep
wrapping the outside with in
grasping at warm slippery ropes
'til unraveled I wake
I miss my dreams of you

troubled thoughts, toss, tumble, spill-
s      s      s      t      t       s            ing
  i      h      l      h      h      h           over
    l      a      i      r      e      u         the
      v      r      n      o             t       edge
        e      d      k      u             t
          r      s             g             e
                                 h             r
heater hissing in my ear                         s
blowing out the cobwebs;
a late June clean

a walk to clear
the cold biting
snapping at my heels
I trace a trenchant oval
'til I'm dead and buried

while I was gone
entropy stole
all the signs of my earlier heartbeats
I shiver and lie
navy expanse above
draped in the frag-
ments of my past
that play automatically
flick'ring films spinning faster and faster
a hungry maelstrom swirling in the centre
its seething seeking tendrils touch then latch
pluck me from my wakeful mode

I dreamt a dream of Sea
vast tracts of opal crests
dark troughs in between
sun beams lapping at my cheeks
kissing my eyelids closed
an empty sky the warm blanket
laying me to rest
dark slices of arched backs
breaking free of their home
for just a break-neck second
and there I bake
on the hump of a colossus
long deep breaths
cannonades for one as small as I
until at last having taken its fill
dives down to the depths that I cannot know
I sink below the sea's silky skin
blinking goodbye to the last
twinkling children of the sun
bis ich nichts mehr sehen kann

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This piece was completed around June 2020, combining several fragments I had collected in the previous 3 months. It was accepted for Vol. 10 of INCISORS & GRINDERS, the Monash University student creative writing magazine.