September Dream

An eternity, for the Asphodel, is a brief few
months. It’s been a decade, as the crow flies,

ten days on Venus, ten Venus days,
each, longer than a year.

When I’m without you, I feel it
deep in bone and tissue. The cells in me

search for you. In a dream, I find myself
in exactly your orbit, my body

feels each revolution, but my mind
is at a family reunion—

I’m a teacher again, which is how I know
I’m in a dream. I sit for hours at a slot machine,

the cherries and the sevens and the    BAR
                                                                      BAR
                                                                      BAR

don’t line up for me, not ever.

Now, I’m doing dream laundry, washing
sheets and towels and wouldn’t you know it,

a blanket I have in the real world:
here and now melts into dream,

and I promise myself dual realities.
I give myself cake and ice cream

and a tear tattoo, and when I wake
I find you, too.