Just Before Awakening This Morning
I’m the acting head of a hospital ward even though
I don’t remember if I’m really a doctor from a past life.
But I’m also one of the patients in this ward
Who still needs to sleep a while longer
Before I’ll be ready to awaken to whatever this is.
In fact, all the people in this ward have dual roles
As both patients and staff. And we’re all
Trying to figure out what we doing here
In this in-between state between this life
And whatever comes next; I go back to bed.
After I’ve slept, some of my friends
Who are also both patients and staff
Are helping me to clean up my old house—
Organizing all the stuff that can be recycled
All the stuff that’s still useful here
We’re making a lot of progress.
The basement’s practically livable
And outside there’s a large tree in the yard
That we need to remove the dead branches from
So that it can grow and thrive again
There are also thousands of these tiny metal filings that
Need to be drawn out of this chopped-spinach-like stuff
So it can be used for fodder; we use
Our own energy to create the magnet.
Hey, it’s a dream.
One woman, a patient-nurse, awakens
Just before the dream is going to end.
She can see this Oz-like city off in the distance
And because she can see it, I guess I can too.
She’s decided to stay though
Until everyone’s ready to leave together,
So that’s what we’re doing here—
Helping each other, helping with the clean up.
I wake up thinking: this Gulf oil spill is really
A great opportunity if only we’d awaken to it.