Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Dreams while in the hospital recovery room

Well , there I was last week being kept over night in the hospital after minor throat surgery. I woke up in a bad mood and was not doing well so I was being kept overnight. Around midnight I looked around the recovery room in a daze , addled from pain meds and other things. I fell back asleep. It was around then that I had an odd dream , not of some nightmare quality but of  a moment during the summer of 1970.  I am studied enough in biochem and know enough about such things as to know what this moment was now about. I had taken my English bike out of the back of the garage. Pumped up the tires , lubed the chain etc. I needed some exercise. I rode around my home town  , past my recently graduated high school. , past the houses of school mates ,  past farms and fields. The evening was closing in , I headed for home. I was tired but actually glad to be out. Then something began to happen........something quiet and deep. As I rolled up Scott Avenue I felt an odd feeling for a young guy who  too often played the angry young man role. I felt at a very total peace  I know brain chemistry but we didn't know that at the time. I stopped and leaned against a light pole. We had not yet modernized our streets lights yet so the light was a bare bulb with a plate over the top of it. I stood there leaning against the pole ,  The rapidly setting sun was red in color , off in the distance someone was finishing up mowing their lawn. The light pole had an ivy like plant growing up towards the light. The field next to me buzzed with insects. All seemed beautiful ,  peaceful and the years of teenage angst melted away. Wow this seemed better than even shooting my mouth off for some political cause. Time had seemed to stop so like a jerk I lit a cigarette to move this along. A car passed ,a Dodge Dart convertible. Rare. The song playing on the car radio was Joanne by Mike Nesmith.. You can Google it. So I finished my smoke and biked back home. The stillness lingered for a while. I slept well that night. Unlike this night as the nurse aroused me from my  memory dream to ask me if I could tell her my name and date of birth. By the way her name was Joanne.

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