(time time time t
...as the dream continues, I am closing the store for the night. It's late. I send my coworker home before everything is done and, as she leaves, my coworker tells me, "I think she's waiting for you." I know who she's talking about. There's a woman in a yellow dress sitting on a swinging daybed next to the rush of water and near the vines of honeysuckle. Her presence has a pull on me like an unseen sun. As with most dreams, there's very little distance between thoughts and speech, and even though I haven't said a word to the woman in the yellow dress, I know that she's waiting for me. My coworker says, "Don't get killed" just as the door closes.
When the time comes for me to leave, she's still there. I wondered if she wouldn't disappear or turn into someone else. She's still the same person, a familiar stranger who has the potential to redefine my entire understanding of this city by infusing her presence into every commonplace space or routine. Or, she could simply drift away into the night.
We walk together past a building from the 1920s. We walk down the old path of a train track that is now paved and bustling as an inner-city thoroughfare. More than any other night, I'm aware of the underground springs that still exist underneath the concrete. There are massive movements of water beneath us, water that is clear and fresh and unstoppable despite any human development on the surface. Our conversation is part of those subterranean springs. We can fill in each other's pauses and gaps without even saying the words.
I've never been a lucid dreamer but I know enough that--given the notion that one is in a dream--the dreamer should test a common facet of waking life to see if the principles apply as they should. The common example is to look down at one's hand and then open and close it into a fist. If the hand opens and closes normally, chances are that the person is not dreaming. If, instead, they find a tree stump for a fist, then something might just be a little off. There are other types of tests, ones that specifically reveal the deviations from logic, physics, sequentiality, causality, etc., but the hand test is easy to remember. Given enough practice, the dreamer can gain awareness within the dreamworld without fully waking up. My test has often been to look at my watch or a clock. Without those devices, I look at my shadow, as if my body is a sundial. In a dream, the digital display of a clock reads gibberish, or my shadow doesn't exist, which are helpful indicators that I'm actually asleep. The only problem is that, given the awareness of a dreamworld, I immediately wake up.
But it's too dark to see my watch, and there aren't street lamps until we reach the end of the old train path. We stand at an intersection, and I happen to notice that both our shadows are doubled. I'm caught up in the concept of a phantogram. Which one is the real shadow, and if we both have multiple silhouettes on the ground, which of my perceived shadows is at the same depth as hers? It's at this point that I realize she's gone. Her presence has moved beyond the form of a person wearing a yellow dress. She sinks into my consciousness just as the underground rivers flow out beneath the city. Despite being aware of the unreality of the world, the dream continues, and yet this minor interlude feels more like an major introduction.
I continue home...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interpol - Mind Over Time
[Listen on Spotify]
Interpol - Mind Over Time
I will still be up by fall
I'll still be up by fall either way
Still be up by fall
I'll be still to hear the call either way
Street of thought
In all your bones
Hold your place and
Save your throne
Lie awake supine and golden
Wait for grace
It's time
Mind over time
Mind over time
Sleight of fate
And borrowed clothes
Songs of places
No one knows
Draped in lace we all lean over
To greet the great
It's time
Mind over time
Mind over time
Street of thought
In all your bones
Hold your place
And save your throne
Lie awake supine and golden
Greet the great its time
Mind over time
Mind over time
It's mind over time
It's your mind over time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the time comes for me to leave, she's still there. I wondered if she wouldn't disappear or turn into someone else. She's still the same person, a familiar stranger who has the potential to redefine my entire understanding of this city by infusing her presence into every commonplace space or routine. Or, she could simply drift away into the night.
We walk together past a building from the 1920s. We walk down the old path of a train track that is now paved and bustling as an inner-city thoroughfare. More than any other night, I'm aware of the underground springs that still exist underneath the concrete. There are massive movements of water beneath us, water that is clear and fresh and unstoppable despite any human development on the surface. Our conversation is part of those subterranean springs. We can fill in each other's pauses and gaps without even saying the words.
I've never been a lucid dreamer but I know enough that--given the notion that one is in a dream--the dreamer should test a common facet of waking life to see if the principles apply as they should. The common example is to look down at one's hand and then open and close it into a fist. If the hand opens and closes normally, chances are that the person is not dreaming. If, instead, they find a tree stump for a fist, then something might just be a little off. There are other types of tests, ones that specifically reveal the deviations from logic, physics, sequentiality, causality, etc., but the hand test is easy to remember. Given enough practice, the dreamer can gain awareness within the dreamworld without fully waking up. My test has often been to look at my watch or a clock. Without those devices, I look at my shadow, as if my body is a sundial. In a dream, the digital display of a clock reads gibberish, or my shadow doesn't exist, which are helpful indicators that I'm actually asleep. The only problem is that, given the awareness of a dreamworld, I immediately wake up.
But it's too dark to see my watch, and there aren't street lamps until we reach the end of the old train path. We stand at an intersection, and I happen to notice that both our shadows are doubled. I'm caught up in the concept of a phantogram. Which one is the real shadow, and if we both have multiple silhouettes on the ground, which of my perceived shadows is at the same depth as hers? It's at this point that I realize she's gone. Her presence has moved beyond the form of a person wearing a yellow dress. She sinks into my consciousness just as the underground rivers flow out beneath the city. Despite being aware of the unreality of the world, the dream continues, and yet this minor interlude feels more like an major introduction.
I continue home...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interpol - Mind Over Time
[Listen on Spotify]
Interpol - Mind Over Time
I will still be up by fall
I'll still be up by fall either way
Still be up by fall
I'll be still to hear the call either way
Street of thought
In all your bones
Hold your place and
Save your throne
Lie awake supine and golden
Wait for grace
It's time
Mind over time
Mind over time
Sleight of fate
And borrowed clothes
Songs of places
No one knows
Draped in lace we all lean over
To greet the great
It's time
Mind over time
Mind over time
Street of thought
In all your bones
Hold your place
And save your throne
Lie awake supine and golden
Greet the great its time
Mind over time
Mind over time
It's mind over time
It's your mind over time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~