empty dirt vista
I turn to her
she asks how did
we get here? I say
I think I’m asleep
dreaming she says
she thought that
too then a fierce
wind all is gray
dust the monkey
yells cut! he tells
the camera-man
they have captured
reality truly next
thing I know I’m
here face down in
the water washing
ashore on a sand-
bar she is fetal
naked the monkey
kneels over camera-
man’s corpse like an
alter-boy weeping
she yells shut-up
you dirty little ape!
the monkey howls
bites her leg she
crawls to one end
of the sandbar I
to the other all is
water the monkey—
television actor now
director of acclaimed
historical dramas
lamenting camera-
man was the Da Vinci
of modernity I’m
thinking Da Vinci?
yeah the guy who
never finished
anything I ask how
did we get here?
she says she must
be asleep dreaming
I’m thinking yes that
must be all there
is to it—simply
asleep dreaming