The Green Poem
by Dawn Bratton
This poem thinks green.
you know, once an aura-reader at a meditation group told me I was
green, I thought he was crazy
now a green moment has presented itself
this emerald expanse stretched out by the daughters of dream
the dream that knows it’s a dream (albeit a leafy mint toned one)
Wake up! Wake up! I mean, go to sleep, go to sleep
there there: the dream
the dream that dreams and dreams and dreams
the dream that dreams and knows it’s dreaming
the dream that wakes and forgets itself with a headache
the dream that postures and pretends to be someone else
the dream that is eternally playing dress-up in the void
the dream that talks to itself on TV
the dream that overhears itself in the next room
the dream that makes too much noise and annoys itself
the dream that wants to tell itself to cut it out
the dream that should cut itself a break instead
the dream that cries itself to sleep at night
the dream that eats too much ice cream when it’s depressed
the dream that has a cavity in its right bottom molar
the dream that worries about next month’s dental bill
the dream that goes to sleep hoping to wake up another dream
the dream that is eternally searching for itself
the dream that recognizes itself in a glance
the dream that falls madly in love with itself
the dream that falls silently on itself in winter
the dream that grows under its own feet
the dream that eats itself
the dream that gives birth to itself
the dream that is you
the dream that is me
the dream of this song, of life, every moment
an infinite joke in proportion
me, the biggest joke of all, my entire pretended existence one
monumental pretense
the dream that is always building itself and disintegrating
the dream that rearranges itself in infinite ways
the dream that is always returning to itself
the dream that can only return if it thinks it left itself
hence, the Green Poem, both in thought and intention
because only when a green moment has itself, does it recognize itself
and I am so grateful for these cucumber and sage reflections
I want to drop to my knees and cry peridot tears of forgiveness
I could spend the remainder of my life attempting to pay back this
verdant instant
I hear purple goes well with green, aesthetically speaking
are you purple?
Dawn Bratton lives in the Bay Area, CA. Her poetry and short poetic fiction pieces explore themes of modernity, narratives with the past, the nature of reality, authenticity, relief from dread, and how to rediscover meaning in a physically reduced world.