Kimberly O'Connor

A dream containing dogwood blossoms means
you are questioning your religion. A dream

in which you drive a Volkswagen Jetta
up a river, as though the river were a road,

indicates dissatisfaction with daily routines,
but if it’s raining and the drops don’t splash

 in the water, you could simply desire a gift
from your lover. Marigolds growing

 backwards, from blossom to seed,
is a common dream that mirrors an inner need

for a lost childhood pleasure, such as eating
banana popsicles or reading in magnolia branches,

but dreaming of either of these is a warning
that a time of loneliness is approaching.

Trains in a dream mean someone is angry.
Ships or any voyage on the sea

suggest you will make a large purchase,
but if you dream specifically of the Pacific,

you are still mourning a loss you believed
you had gotten over. If you dream you are

shelling beans with your great-grandmother
while everyone else, including your mother,

is skinning a deer, you long to visit a place
you never thought you’d want to go. If, near the end

of this dream, just after you sit down to eat,
your family leans forward, toward you,

as though they share the same body,
and draws in a breath as though to speak,

you should write down what they say,
if you can hear it—words spoken

in a dream mean you are trying to remember
something someone told you years ago.

Note: This poem first appeared in Appalachian Journal.