This project exists in the public sphere. In it, I am taking people’s dreams out of their heads and out of their bed, so to speak, printing them on pillowcases and then seeding them into unexpected, far-flung corners of several cities.
Did you find a pillowcase with a printed dream? Did you hear about this project and want to send me your night time dream? Choose a location to enter your dream.
Last night I dreamt I was in the mall I used to work in. I wasn’t with anybody, but it was a busy time to be in the mall. I was in a store I normally wouldn’t find myself in, which was located in a different spot from where it is actually located. Suddenly, I see that Eddie Vedder, begins a concert in the mall. Not on a stage, not in a particularly busy area. Just begins a show, involving whoever was around. Of course, being a huge Pearl Jam fan I’m ecstatic and mesmerized by the show. I realize nobody will believe me when I tell them what happened so I take out my cell phone to record the moment. In my usual clutziness I drop my phone, and before I can get it, a girl picks it up as her own and runs with it. She runs over to the Cash-4-Gold stand and hands it to them, where they proceed to hide it. I see them take my phone and go over there to get it and in a moment of strength fight a tall man for it, and win. Proud of myself, I am returning to the Pearl Jam show, which at this point has turned into a frenzy near a hair salon I used to frequent. Instead of diving right in, I stand on the outskirts of the crowd and observe. Suddenly somebody who is in my current life, an instructor of mine, approaches me and questions why I am not dancing with everybody else. The next thing I know, she and I are dancing in the center of the crowd, spinning with crowd around Eddie Vedder until we are dizzy. She disappears and a very close friend of mine are still dancing and getting closer and closer to Eddie. When the song is over, we realize we are so dizzy we nearly feel intoxicated. We decide to rest and enjoy the rest of the show. Needless to say, I woke up very happy.
It consists of a series of revisited landscapes, each one a familiar exploration. Each time I explore a new perspective or have a new experience knowing that I know the place.
I enter a very large swimming pool through the changing rooms. I know it is crowded but manage to be in rooms by myself. It is not pleasant, but bleak and beige. A pervasive damp slightly urine-y smell is everywhere. I go through it although it is a myriad of corridors to get to the pool itself.
The pool is huge. I watch people diving in and swimmers doing lengths. I want to go in but it is closing time and I am dismayed that I have missed the chance to swim. I wonder if I can sneak a swim in without people noticing. I think I have tried this before and feel an urgency to go onto the next place which is-
London by the river with lots of bridges, some of which are small and can lift up to allow river traffic. Not a contemporary sight. There is a fringe festival going on and I have to go down an arterial road away from the river to get to a show. There is lots of traffic, taxis, noise. This is new to me. In the middle of the road just down from me there are two hooligans making lot of noise, young but mature, bulky men. No one approaches them and everyone kind of pretends they can’t see them as there is a feeling that eye contact with them will invite violence. The men are shovelling soil they have placed in the middle of the road into a tunnel that leads eventually to the river. It is turning to mud. Frenetic.
I turn in the other direction and find myself in a very small dark theatre space watching a play with my daughter Malaika. Al Pacino is doing one of his larger than life Mafia-type characters. The audience is very impressed that it is Pacino. I feel irritated that they are so impressed. I am disappointed that he is doing the same ol’ thing he always does and find the larger than life sinister character he plays more than I can bear in this small room so I leave.
As we leave, there is someone in a doorway to a basement inviting us to see his show. He refers to his mentor, Bill I_______. We are amazed as we have heard of this actor – have even met him in Newfoundland. My daughter starts to speak to him about Bill – what a larger than life man he is, funny and warm. I can see she wants to see the show. I go up to the main road to see if the two scary men are still shovelling. Will any taxis going down that road be able to avoid them?
The decision that is necessary wakes me up but with vivid images of it all and a clear memory of Bill, so much so that I mention it to Malaika. It feels familiar to us both.
I dream that maggots are living on the surface of my shoulders and back. I am naked in the shower, trying to dig them out of body with my fingernails. I can feel them eating me as they burrow into my flesh. Eventually the maggots fall off – disgusting pale wriggling worms. I am left with ragged red raw sores where they had been eating.
I DREAM OF LOVE AND PEACE
(Hi Sheila! I write all my dreams down, so I have a lot to choose from. Usually they’re so overdetermined that it takes 20 minutes and 6 pages to write down what passed in an instant. So I’m picking a favorite that is short. This is exactly what I had written in the middle of the night in the dark) “We left the door open and all kinds of cats got in the house, including one with a long beard that we thought looked like Dom Pedro II.”
Setting off in the car with my father to to catch the bus to school. I’m sitting beside him in the front seat and realise I have no knickers on under my school tunic. I can’t tell my father I have no knickers on – impossible to talk about such an intimate thing, some feeling of inappropriateness, even danger, but also impossible to go to school with no knickers – the wind might blow up, we might do gym etc etc. A very physical dream, so much so I often wondered whether it actually happened, though I knew it didn’t.
I was walking in the woods by a river, my walk turned into a run. The trees around me were wooshing with the sounds of the leaves. The trees began to turn grey and the woods became more enclosed. As I was running I could see a group of teenage girls walking there dog. I stopped and saw them trying to ride the dog, making it walk with them sat on top of it. I told them to stop and that it was cruel and at that moment they brought out bows and arrows and attempted to shoot me, I started running away and when I was really terrified I woke up.
Children and grown-ups gathered along the sidwalk to march. I couldn’t remember what for but many of the people were from my mother’s church and the neighborhood I grew up in. Before we knew it, the police had descended upon us, disbanding us into wounded, limping packs. It was the next day and even more people gathered. People were dressed in their Sunday best. I strolled calmly fromt he front of the march, eating popcorn. I moved a small block of young girls in line with the other marchers. Just then I heard Ms. Inell say, “Go up there and do it.” “What?”, I asked. “Go up there and sing it”, she said. I was afraid of what the police might do–I think. I was on a broad island of a stage and began to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” with my hand laid across my chest. I was in the center of a packed stadium.
Liz Mitchell
The Asian Sea
10-13-96
My father in law was with us and he was talking about wanting to go swimming. We were standing on a mountain looking down at the water and could see that there were strong currents and rough conditions. I told Tom that he should go to the water with his father.
We came down off the mountain to walk by the water. The water was known as the Asian Sea. We walked along the road and there was a lot of construction going on and police lights flashing. My first thought was that someone must have drown.
We walked further down this road along the sea but had to walk in and out of the railings alongside the road. There were a lot of other people walking with us. They were all Asian.
We saw three young girls jump into the water from a bridge. The water was swirling and churning very fast. One of the girls had the smallest girl in her arms and was holding her tight. They were laughing.
We walked up to a set of stairs. The water was rushing over them. To the right was an area that had been damned off holding most of the water back. Some of the water rushed over the steps. The steps had a slight slant to them and I thought it would be difficult to climb them.
A women next to me pointed out that there was a small ledge underneath that you could grasp and hold onto with your fingers. The ledge would help you to pull yourself up.
I found the grooves with my hand and was able to safely climb the three or four steps up into a building.
Para Sheila Goloborotko
Sueño, a veces, con Galápagos anidados en tus besos/
ronroneando la rutina de mis labios/
la tersura de un relámpago/ sueño
la jerónima mirada de un deseo/
y entre sueño y sueño, la vagancia
indómita de los espejos…
it is medieval times, i am preparing a banquet table for Henry VIII whose hunting party is coming through my lands. above the table is a glass ceiling with leaded partitions. when the king arrives he takes a liking to me, decides he will spend the night with me and arranges for his aide to exclude my husband from the feasting table. during the feast my husband escapes captivity by turning into the most magnificent black raven and flying at the glass ceiling above us until he breaks through and pecks out the eyes of the king’s aide. in the commotion i am saved from having to spend the night with the king and somehow i am able to then take the king on a tour of his battle fields to show him the devastation he has caused and there, albino hippopotami are scavenging on the remains of the dead
I was hurtling across the ocean in a kayak, jumping huge waves and travelling as fast as if I was in a speedboat. Then I see a school of dolphins and they jump and play with me. One baby one gets trapped on the beach and I go to shore to save him. Dozens of fishing boat suddenly block his exit back to his family and I have to guide him through the nets and through the water so that he is safe.
Media Luz
al lado oscuro del olvido
yo soy el empiece blanco
– por cierto
Espacio
de la nueva pareja
un idioma
que no tenía boca
sin lengua
estoy cerca
y conoces
mi nombre
todavía no
hemos conocido días
– largos y famosos –
pero la noche, la noche
siempre la noche
me pierdo pensando
en tu ruido
y el ruido de la tierra
esta sola tristeza
se fue
cuando estaba mirando
la noche y la luna
…. there exists a site
place
time is of no consequence
but in movement
provocatively slow
and a man
a brown paper bag over his head
containing both
– both containing
his memory, his future
his future memory
his space
dense and real
and eternal dreams
virtual travels
and all the while
clutching
a Fakir’s horn ………
Walking to registration before the race. Bump into an old friend I haven’t seen for 18 years, but really pleased to see him (one of the lost friends who meant something). We both go to register, but the corridors and walkways become elongated and endless. Scene takes on a domestic atmosphere – landings, ballistrades, stairs with carpets, more and more turns past rooms and passage ways. Twice, at the extremety of a route, find myself in someone’s nicely decorated (though rather old fashioned) drawing room. First time its a lady in her 70s. Second time its a man in his 80s. Both of them have have four massive dogs – dobermans or ridgebacks – which seem kind and docile. All is serene. However, it soon becomes apparent that these are guard dogs and the people are gatekeepers, protecting this world from a far more dangerous one outside the french windows (autumnal looking, though picturesque). Suddenly alone, the choice is now mine, whether to leave the comfort of my known world or…
I awoke one afternoon whilst on a silence retreat in Gubbio, Italy, recently and as I awoke there was a strong thought and feeling of having been a sun goddess. I felt very light but also that I had travelled back in time to when people worshipped the sun and moon etc. This would be over 2,000 years ago…
The soul is eternal and with the power of pure thoughts in the soul it is possible to see our previous births…
I dreamt that I stole my neighbour’s hanging basket of flowers. I had admired them and thought that it would be nice to have them in my own garden. However, as soon as I took possession of them I was overcome by guilt and was desperately trying to think of a way to return them to my neighbour without them finding out. I woke up before finding a resolution.
last night i dreamt that your death was a farce, and that you had planned the whole thing as a way to get back at me. everyone else except me had found this out sometime during the last six years. something happened; the situation started to become clear to me, and when i told people how i was confused they got a faraway look in their eyes and i could tell that there was a secret being kept from me. everyone seemed to be shaking their heads in disapproval or sadness or both. the more i understood the louder i shouted. i remember we were in a restaurant and i was very loud. I remember you creeping about in shadows; once i knew you were still alive your presence and energy changed, and you became part of the physical world again. my friend said that i had brought this on myself, and that i should have realized it earlier. i had been blind, unreceptive to what had really happened, and it was completely my fault.
I am in a house. I am lost. I walk through one unfamiar hallway to another. I find a room, then another. I pass some unfamiliar people in the rooms. They ignore me. I reach a door, happy to find an exit. I begin to walk down. I am high up. The concrete steps have a gap, with a steep drop. I look for another way out.
I had this dream many years ago. It still is one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had. I was on the outdoor observation deck on the roof of the World Trade Center. I used to love to draw from there. In my dream a strong wind blew me off the World Trade Center and I was flying uptown over Manhattan headed straight for the Empire State Building. My only chance for survival was to catch on to the antenna of the Empire State building. I remember reaching out as far as I could and then grabbing the antenna and wrapping my body around it. When I woke up my body was in the position of holding on to the antenna for dear life.
I am in a house. I am lost. I walk through one unfamiliar hallway to another. I find a room, then another. I pass some unfamiliar people in the rooms. They ignore me. I reach a door, happy to find an exit. I begin to walk down. I am high up. The concrete steps have a gap, with a steep drop. I look for another way out.
I DREAMED THAT I DREAMED
Here is my dream,
I can see myself half naked, just wearing a pair of jeans, standing in the middle of an endless chessboard that gets lost in the horizon. I can see that the rook is on my right, just a few squares away, and that I am holding a big metallic ball in my hand. At one point, the perspective changes and I can see that I am actually in between two figures, the rook and the bishop. I realize that it was the bishop’s perspective that I was enjoying before. Now I can see the endless board, the bishop and the rook at both sides and the ball in my hand. I let the ball fall on the board and it disappears in front of me, bouncing. The next thing that happens is that I see the ball coming back to me following exactly the same bounces that it performed a few seconds ago when it disappeared. It bounces back to my hand and then I can see myself standing, holding the ball, again, through the eyes of the Bishop. Is like rewinding the scene of a movie in your VCR.
I’ve had a recurring dream for most of my life that usually comes up when I’m “stuck” and don’t know what’s next for me to do. Would love to know if anyone else in the world has this same dream over and over again…
“It’s either the twilight or dawn hour of a day with expressive weather– windy with big fluffy clouds rolling across a bright and colorful sky. I’m traveling, on foot, with my close friend or lover and we come to a bridge–a really huge, impressively high and long span across treacherous water (think Verazano, or Coronado Bridge in San Diego, or the Golden Gate). The scenery on both sides, all around is beautiful. I want to get across the bridge, but am distracted by the view along the way. Then, as we get about halfway across, the bridge begins to fall apart, and we grab onto the structural remains and haul ourselves across by jumping and climbing. My friend comes to my aid at the very last minute and we are both saved–usually–sometimes I wake up before we make it across. Sometimes the dream continues as a journey in a vehicle through a complex system of highway loops and overpasses that we travel through at breakneck speed until I wake up sweating and panting.”
Green and Red and Rust
Why do the colors green and red,
When juxtaposed, inspire prose?
Green for life, red for lust,
Lust for LIFE, lust for MUST!
I MUST create the green, the red,
Or grieve my failure in the end.
A famous artist need not be,
Just soul ablaze, no one must see…
But me.
And in the end, if I can say
I’ve spent some time, my hands in clay,
If I can say the canvas flashed
With paint at times in frenzy splashed,
If I can say I inked a screen,
And pulled an image from my dreams,
And if by chance, the words did dance,
When issued from my pen at last,
Then I will say I’ve lived my day,
My soul ablaze, my heart in play,
And I will be at peace in dusk,
When green and red must surely turn to rust.
I had a dream last night. It was a wall of skirts and legs. In the center was a pinup girl from the 30’s. Some one was trying to hide that picture with their hands
I had an intense dream that has stayed with me for many years after my son was born. In the dream, for some reason, I put him in a dresser drawer for safekeeping and then the drawer started filling with water and I couldn’t get him out. I tried everything and eventually woke up in a state of panic. I believe that ‘responsibility dreams’ are very common after new babies arrive but he is 36 years old now and I still remember the intensity of the dream.
You and I are conversing via string–a string pulled between two cups or cans. A straight line is formed, btw, between. It is tight. I think this occurred because I or you said we should call each other to talk.
(2nd dream)
K and I are in a city in Croatia (Split?). We swim across a choppy ocean to an island. The current is very strong, and I have no idea how we’ll get back. The beach is crowded. I lose K shortly thereafter. I keep going in deeper into the island but then I return because I think K will find me only if I stay where we swam in, close to the shore. I see an old lover from Seattle, and I say I didn’t know that you were going to be there. He said he wasn’t. But he doesn’t dilly dally or bother to explain. He doesn’t want to talk. There are giant komodo dragons on the island. I mean, giant. They are long as 18-wheelers. They tug their heads back and forth, but they have no interest in hurting the people. They are enormous and beautiful. Eventually I find K again.
(1 dream)
Me, two other women (a mother and daughter) driving. I’m not driving. The mother or daughter is driving. A road is very close to a lake, Lake Travis (outside of Austin). We are in Austin not outside it though. The woman driving accidentally swerves and skips the vehicle, like a rock, over the water. The first time she swerves off the road. Then she does it again. This time we are sinking towards the bottom of the lake. I open the door from the outside by way of the open window. Then I get to the other door. I’m holding my breath and wonder how long I can hold my breath. But I unclip the door on their side also, and we swim out. But there’s some kind of underwater gymnasium we find down there, and I think we will be able to breathe there. There are people swimming in what seems like two box-shaped underwater rooms. They have windows to see from one to the other. There are several girls in the one next to the one we have found ourselves in. I go to the edge of one of the “windows.” The “windows” are openings at the bottom of the wall. The wall separates the two rooms. I go to the windows to see if I can breathe, but there is some kind of plastic substance or rubbery substance that serves as the material of the “windows.” I seem to get a little bit of air, but we can’t get through to the other side. Then a door opens to our “room,” and there are men there. We are invited into a room without water, and we saunter in (and the water doesn’t move in with us). We explain what has happened. I think the SUV is toast, but one guy uses a cane or an umbrella or a long pointer to show specifications of the vehicle, once we give him the model and make of the vehicle. They say that they can pull up the information, and certain mechanical things are the only thing that will need to be fixed. But the vehicle will definitely be salvaged. I site other times (which are other dreams) where salt water would have ruined the vehicle. I blurt out to the men that my grandfather used to own a restaurant on Lake Travis in Austin. The man sitting down is tall with dark glasses. He might have actually been a patron and friend of my grandfather’s restaurant when I was little, and his name might be Boogie. He says yes, he knew my grandfather really well. Then he started talking about all my grandfather’s creative output. Things I never knew about it. He was a musician. He wrote things, and this guy had even published a broadside for my grandfather. Because my grandfather would never do it himself. I am surprised and proud and somehow this displaces all of the thoughts of the “wreck,” which was less like a wreck than a careening.
Here’s one of my dream poems Sheila
Tracking the dream
The curtain slips, sleep hikes the knees;
she tracks the dream, how can she think
she sees, when a thin string pulls into the well?
The fish ripples and looking down only her face
and shadow behind the sulfur fluid. Was that a city
or a prison? The clue hovers—heavy cement
skyscrapers. And the sound of the word
denudes clouds with open and close of lips.
Quite suddenly, I found myself in the presence of Swami Rama of the Himalayas. He greeted me and welcomed me to the area. He said that he had heard of me and was glad that I decided to come here. I just stood in front of him feeling very confused. He then proceeded to give me a most wonderful hug and say “You do know that everything–all of it–is about Love. Then, as he started to walk away he did a little half turn, looked back at me and said “Just Love.” And then he was gone just as suddenly as he had appeared.
Love knows not time, for it is timeless. Swami Rama
I was living on my old block in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It’s the block I grew up on and was really “home.” There was a house across the street from my house. It was a white house #91 and it had a short stone wall around the front yard.
This is my dream. I was across the street in front of the house I lived in and looking across at the white house #91. On the short stone wall that surrounded the front yard was a woman dressed in black from head to toe. She had on a long black dress, black shoes and a black bonnet. She was laying on her back, length-wise, on top of the wall. Her face was lit up in a bright, bright yellow glow and she seemed to be dead. Her body was straight along the wall with her hands across her chest and she was still.
I remember that dream scared me the night I dreamt it – and that was a long time ago. I must have been in my teens – and I still remember the sight of that women laying on the wall.
My sister and I were walking through the empty streets of Berlin. It was cold, scary, and we didnt know the city at all. We suddenly found a water park, something like Sea World at Disneyland. It was closed, so we just looked at the penguins and dolphins through the windows. There was an earthquake/tsunami and everything broke. The whales, sharks and dolphins from the park were released, and we were freezing, trying to escape from them. I sat on this huge iceberg and was trying to pull my sister up, so she wouldnt drown, when I realized the sharks were around her. Suddenly, this huge black man appears and pretend he´s going to kill us with a hammer, but he actually helps us, and breaks a window that wasnt broken yet. The water level went down and we could walk again. I gave him a balloon and a thankyou gift. My sister and I went walking home, freezing, looking at the empty and now horrible, Berlin.