8.24.99, midnite

          This position relives
dreams from restless morning:

*          *          *

woman crawls through
trap door in floor          co-worker
tells me of marital pain
I ask - how long have you
been together?
                    she says
long enough for us to go
from one bed to two to
three
                    she says
now he's all caught up
in his ZEN thing
          I touch N's arm, which
she interprets as a gesture
of companionship

we take turns shouldering
the weight of an immense balloon,
losing balance under the
          awkwardness as each
co-worker takes a turn it becomes
more deflated           my turn and I
feel the          awkwardness of this
balancing act                    something you
have to try to understand
                    there is no perspective
                    without the action of the game
balancing act

                              dream metaphor
my personal          decisions
how utterly like me
I even try to get back there
in waking state          safe
                    so many images that
all mean:
                    attend to the strange &
                                                                         unfamiliar