December 1, 2006

Dreaming

by Kris Underwood

I can't remember my dreams worth anything these days. I know I do dream: upon waking I can recall snippets of the night's dream, until it quickly vanishes completely from my fuzzy brain. In place of that I see my daughter's face inches away from my own, or I am leaping out of bed because she has grabbed the glass of water I thought I left well out of her reach the night before. Read more.

The Nightmare Trip from Hell

by Ellen Buckhorn

What is the definition of a nightmare? Something that strikes fear into your heart at the mere thought or mention of it? In that case, I submit the trip we took to visit my husband's family in Sweden when our daughter was 19 months old. So haunted were we by this trip that it took us two years before we dared take her farther than we could drive in four hours' time. Read more.

A Family of Dreamers

by Beverly Tjerngren

My son, who is four, has recently started to be aware of his dreams. His dreams are mostly nightmares, it seems, with monsters featuring heavily. He dreams that he is a monster, or that his sisters are, or that his father and I are. He dreams that all of us are gone and he can't find us and monsters are chasing him. He dreams that all of us, together, are fighting wars against monsters. The themes change slightly, but always there are monsters. Read more.

Pink Dreams Turn Toxic

by Carrie Pålsson

"You're so beautiful!" she exclaimed as I scrutinized my face in the mirror. I knew she was just doing her job, but it gave me a little ego boost. I felt beautiful. It'd been months since I'd bothered to slap foundation on my face, much less painstakingly apply eyeliner and mascara.  Read more.

I Used to Dream of Being Free of Sin

by William Lowell Males

I dreamed of being sinless, and sex was the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the complications. I am older now and mercifully impotent. My teeth won't do to bite open modern packaging--peanuts, for example, or condoms. Would you want to bite open your condoms? I'm over the hump, or over humping if you please, and should have an easier time being civilized. Read more.

The Unexpected Nightmare

by Omwisseling

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to Its delight:
Joys in anothers loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.
--William Blake

This summer, I came face to face with a nightmare I was not even aware had taken up residence in the back rooms of my mind. For twelve years, I had known that I would never have children. Damage from rape as a teenager was supposed to have precluded that possibility. At fifteen, truly, this seems a small concern indeed. Given the situation at the time, I believe an only half-sarcastic "great" may have passed my lips. Read more.