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)