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When I Sleep, I Do Not Dream
Michael Shoemaker
I do not dream when I sleep
and this is where
elucidations begin.
Specialists say everyone dreams,
but some when they awake
forget them.
Cousin Cordy says I have always
been on the weird side.
To this, I have no reply.
My friend shrugs her shoulders
and says she wishes
she could buy a cheap
non-dreaming plan,
to bundle with her
wireless and cell phone.
My boss asks if I need
to see someone
(anyone other than he)
in that caring- befuddled
half-listening, concerned face
sort of.
My wife shrugs her shoulders.
My golf buddy says there are worse things
and marches on to tell me five.
My cat does her meow-yawn…
and this is when I decide that
when I sleep and do not dream
on the inky side of my eyelids
it is just alright with me
to daydream an afternoon away.
Michael Shoemaker is a poet, photographer and writer from Magna, Utah. He is the author of poetry/photography collections Rocky Mountain Reflections and Grasshoppers in the Field. Michael is a winner of the California State Poetry Society Prize and is on the shortlist for The Letter Review Prize for Poetry and in the anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival. Michael has been nominated for the Best of the Net anthology for 2025. He lives with his family where he enjoys looking out on the Great Salt Lake every day.
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