Chandani Dreams of
Butterflies
last night
chandani dreamed
of butterflies
settling in her hand
at three in
sleep she skips
through the
invisible glens
of jackson
heights & lifts
from space the petal-winged
creatures of air
& stem
her near-first
word was "moon"
she knew it from
the book
& marveled
for hours
that it balanced
above her
the light in the
night
she tells me of
her dream by skype
from beneath the
comforter
on her mother's
bed as she deploys
her princesses
against the day
toyin
almost forty
whose dreams
i used to know
shares this
snuggle cave with her
there must have
been a time when
my dreams were
innocent flicks
of flowered
creatures
that fluttered
above my palms
i must have
discovered one night
the moon &
all its mutable geometry
now in sleep i
am often lost
& afraid
my dreams are
polluted
with creatures
chandani
has not yet met
some are
political & despise me
as i despise
them for the warring
worlds we want
to make
others are the
seepage
of the latent
madness that waits
till midnight to
claim my mind
i would not
dream for chandani
i'd have her dream for me
In this Peculiar Light
in this peculiar
light
i see no farther
than the edge
of my voice
therefore
i assign all
eternal memories
to a restless
grove
a stuttering
album of places
deeds &
parts of you
that is vivid
&
a comfort to
browse
on this
descending day
i begin to
wonder
what you would
perceive if
by some alice or
dorothy
accident you
slipped
& fell into
the neon box
of crayons
that remembrance
is
as it flashes
away
in this peculiar
light
i think
you'd wince at
first
then turn
to me then turn
away
your smile would
be
gratuitous
but well
intended
& i'd count
that
good enough
A.B. Spellman is an
author, poet, critic, and lecturer. His
books and articles include Art Tatum:
A Critical Biography (a chapbook), The Beautiful Days (poetry), and Four
Lives in the Bebop Business, now available as Four Jazz Lives (University
of Michigan Press). His poetry
collection, Things I Must Have Known, was published recently by Coffee
House Press. He has served as poet-in-residence at Morehouse College and, at
Emory, Rutgers, and Harvard Universities, taught African-American culture,
modern poetry, creative writing, and jazz.
He has offered reviews and commentaries on National Public Radio's Jazz
Riffs series, including the NPR Basic Jazz Record Library program. During thirty years at the National Endowment
for the Arts, he served as Director of the Expansion Arts Program then as Deputy
Chairman.
