So four years ago today, I posted a series of writings based on dreams. Here is a poem from that collection.
(Note that Grimalkin is an archaic term meaning "grey cat" or also, a spiteful old woman.
GRIMALKIN’S MAGIC
So, you came to me last night
in a strange dream with a strange cat.
One of you, with your smooth mouth
and pale eyes, with just the slightest hesitation,
gentled me, repeatedly.
One of you
settled
in a curl of heat around my shoulders
so deliberately.
There was a garden
and it seems
you played a
banjo…
The song remains.
A dream poem doesn't have to contain a great deal of detail. On the other hand, it may consist of all details, leaving the interpretation to the reader. An excellent reference for this process of creating as well as defining is a dream dictionary.
Consider the following:
- To see a cat in your dream symbolizes an independent spirit, feminine sexuality, creativity, and power.
- Gray indicates fear, fright, depression, ill health, ambivalence and confusion. You may feel emotionally distant, isolated, or detached. Alternatively, the color gray symbolizes your individualism.
- A garden can be symbolic of stability, potential, and inner growth, and specifically, a flower garden represents tranquility, comfort, love and domestic bliss.
- To feel heat in your dream indicates a feeling of shame or embarrassment. Alternatively, it represents purity, creative energy or intense passion.
- To hear or see someone playing a banjo in your dream signifies a joyous and happy occasion.
- To have a dream that takes place at night represents some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. You are being faced with an issue that is not so clear cut. Alternatively, night may be synonymous with death, rebirth, reflection, and new beginnings.
- To see your shoulders in your dream symbolize strength, responsibility and burdens.
- To dream that you are dreaming or daydreaming signifies your emotional state. You are excessively worried and fearful about a situation or circumstance that you are going through. Dreaming that you are dreaming also serves as a layer of protection from what you are feeling. The dream within a dream allows you to experience certain difficult feelings that may otherwise be too painful to confront if you were directly dreaming the scenario.
- To hear or write a song in your dream indicates that you are looking at things from a spiritual viewpoint.
- How aware of these symbols is the writer when he or she is creating?
- Is the use of such symbols intuitive, intentional, or a combination of the two?
Neil Armstrong
“Understanding is love’s other name.”--Thich Nhat Hahn