Oneirology
By Jordan Hamel
After Diane Seuss
My Zoom therapist tells me it’s OK to find a new wilderness. She encourages me
to leave the house & find the Tasmanian devils that escaped my night zoo.
My Zoom therapist only takes notes when a client talks about dreams.
She finds the devils indicative but doesn’t want to over-prescribe.
How much do you know about the devils? Aggressive, solitary rascals
coming together only to eat & shit. I can’t have fun unless someone watches.
She doesn’t laugh. I say sorry. I’m new here. Salmon spawning in Jacuzzis.
Mariana Trench forest fires. What love can you suffer in a seasonless city?
Next question. You think you belong here? Howler monkey in a bowling alley.
Emile Hirsch on the set of Into the Wild. When was the last time you donned a
backpack under a sickly oak? I crack my neck like a winter branch, a bank vault.
Are those around you a product of their environment or vice versa? Last night,
everyone I adore was a coneless ice cream melting in my fist. She says sorry,
the connection cut out; can you go back to the beginning?
Source: Poetry (November 2023)