The Good Dark by Patrice M. Wilson
Tonight, I am the dream
not caught in the dreamcatcher
that hangs above my bed,
its brownish bird feathers now good
omens against white painted wood
the dream not filtered by
its web of fine twine struggling
with the things of the day.
When I’m happy I want to give
all those things away,
have nothing and arrive to my soul
clean of the stuff of daylight. I need
to be a good dream like that—
stay on this side of the catcher
bring a ray of blacklight
to the vast crowd of bright images
my soul moves around in
before each nocturnal flight,
a freedom hard to come by
but as gentle as twilight.
Born in Newark, NJ, Patrice M. Wilson has lived in NC, CT, MD, DC, VA, and HI, where she now resides in Mililani on Oahu. She has one full-length poetry collection with eLectio Publishing and three chapbooks with Finishing Line Press. Her poems have been published in various journals. She has been an English professor and editor of the literary magazine at Hawaii Pacific University.