lark in the dark all teeth, big nose coming directly at me in the middle of the night. I am frozen in the bed as it comes roaring down at me from the ceiling. I roll away at the last moment and it hits the bed between me and my white cat. the cat jumps straight up, hits the ceiling, bounces back, hits the bed, leaps off, jumps through the screen and lands two floors below in the Jacuzzi. I get up, watch it swim to the edge, crawl out. it sits there licking itself in the moonlight. "whatcha doin'?" I hear my wife say. "gotta go to the bathroom," I tell her. I walk to the bathroom, come back, climb under the covers. "don't snore," says my wife. I stare at the spot in the ceiling from where the apparition first appeared. for two hours I do this. then I am asleep again. I am dreaming. I am naked and driving one of those old-fashioned steam locomotives through a shopping mall. I smile and wave to the crowds but nobody seems to notice me. (Posthumous) |