she bought me a dream catcher to hang over the bed

the bed she laid in with me

it was her going away present to me

i didn’t know she was taking a trip

so i hung it over the head board

right above where she used to grab and shake it until it seemed as if it would snap

careful not to touch her finger prints in case one day she returned for them

a childish wish

but aren’t all wishes childish

don’t we wish from the same place we were a super hero or artist or poet

i hung it there and laughed at the silliness of it

but every night i feed it

no longer dreams of her

though it is fat from them i’m sure

can you crack open a dream catcher like a pinãta

will all the dreams you dreamt spill out like candies across the pillows

to be savored at last in waking hours

i don’t have a sweet tooth but i could develop one for that

the yellow ones taste like sunshine riding your bike full speed down hill

maybe like when your wheel caught the rut and twisted the handle bar so that it pierced your young intestines

you walked home with it hanging out like a big boy

no tears until the hospital

the blue ones taste like the aquarium, where the morey eel so amazed you

or later where you would go and fantasize about drowning in the big tanks

watching them feed the nurse sharks and thinking how nice it would be to sleep in there

the red ones we don’t eat

puffed up cheeks and screams that you are fat and stupid

no

better leave the red ones alone if you know what’s good for you

don’t make her get the hanger idiot

the green ones like the tall bushes of berries where you would pick and pick and mother would make delicious jellies and jams

beware the large spiders and there webs and the thorns though

be careful picking through them

better yet

let’s leave the dreams alone

maybe it is saving you from yourself

from longing for the things you’ll never have

from the things you have had

the cotton web swollen with night mares and longing

yes

let’s just go to sleep and forget it’s there

no need to remember our dreams we dream when we are so excited

no

let’s just fall into slumber

peaceful, dreamless sleep