dream

after a long hiatus, my dreams have been particularly vivid of late. here's one from this morning:

I'm at band rehearsal, but I can't get my guitar tuned. Someone has taken the strings off and put them back on out of order. The lead singer is losing patience, the drummer has a short time-frame, and the cellist borrowed my car to go to a sorority reunion. We are learning a Christmas song, even though it is January. Rehearsal is not successful.

I leave my guitar there and ride my bike toward home. I can see the entire City from the hill we are on, and I notice it is pitch black except for the headlights and tailghts of cars. I stop at a convenience store but it is closed because of the power outage, and someone steals my bike. The cellist in the band is there. She has taped a large cardboard sign on my car which reads "This is not my car! It is inappropriate to write on it!" There are Greek letters in black magic marker all over its tail and doors and roof. I can make out "ανθρωπος" and "Ελληνική" amongst the typical tripartate combinations of Greek sorority designations. We talk briefly and then I continue my walk.

I follow a train line which runs down the middle of the street. Quickly I am the only white person around. Small chidren playing on the tracks are picking up chunks of cement and rail spikes and flinging them in the air. Some come close to hitting me. Soon there is a peculiar bazaar on the tracks, with ornate carvings, gold chains, and sizzling unidentifiable meats in abundance. At this point the figures around me are not merely of indeterminate race, but they are of indeterminate specie. It is like "The Horror at Red Hook." I wake.