THE WORLD WILL BE CLOSED TOMORROW: I usually channel my dreams into poems or plays, but I thought I would chronicle the one I had last night into a blog entry. Ever since I was a kid, when we were at the height of the Cold War and nuclear destruction seemed moments away, I have dreamed about the end of the world. This past year, those dreams have returned. Last night's was one of those that woke me in a cold sweat, heart racing and paralyzed with fear.
Let me go back a bit. Early this year, I had a dream that Atlanta had been attacked and invaded by some foreign force. The city was in ruins and I was trying to make my way back to my loft. It was one of the most realistic dreams I've ever had. In June, I had another dream that some biological agent had been released by terrorists. I had made my way back to my childhood home and was trying to find a tv station still on air to find out what was going on. Then last night, the latest installment.
It's a little blurry now, but it seemed like a nuclear exchange was imminent. I was in a school that had been turned into a fall out shelter. A teacher I had in elementary school was in the hallway and then I went into a classroom and one of my best friends, Joy, was there with her daughter and some other people I didn't know. Joy handed me a newspaper and the front page was blank except for the words, The World Will Be Closed Tomorrow. It was chilling to say the least. We were watching tv (I don't consider myself a tv junkie, but maybe I've been watching CNN too much lately) and the news was showing all the cars fleeing the city. Some kind of plastic reflective covering had been put over the windows of the classrooms to shield from the flash. I had peeled back a piece of the covering so I could see outside when the flash came.
I've heard that a lot of people dream in black and white. Well let me tell you, I dream in full blown Technicolor and this one was The Wizard of Oz of doomsday scenarios. I'll take the old "naked in public" and "flying and falling" dreams anyday. That newspaper headline is burned into my mind, but I suppose it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. If there's ever some kind of nuclear holocaust, I'd prefer to be at ground zero...gone in an millisecond rather than face radiation sickness, cancer and slow death. Besides, I would be useless when it came time to repopulate the world.
This dream came on the tail end of a fairly good, but hectic weekend. I recorded Jennifer Wheelock for The Business of Words (thanks for the great interview, JW), had lunch with an old pal, watched Monster (Charlize Theron definitely deserved that Oscar, but I can add this film to the "saw it, glad I did, never need to see it again" category) and read at Java Monkey. Who knows why the mind conjures up this scary shit.
Let me go back a bit. Early this year, I had a dream that Atlanta had been attacked and invaded by some foreign force. The city was in ruins and I was trying to make my way back to my loft. It was one of the most realistic dreams I've ever had. In June, I had another dream that some biological agent had been released by terrorists. I had made my way back to my childhood home and was trying to find a tv station still on air to find out what was going on. Then last night, the latest installment.
It's a little blurry now, but it seemed like a nuclear exchange was imminent. I was in a school that had been turned into a fall out shelter. A teacher I had in elementary school was in the hallway and then I went into a classroom and one of my best friends, Joy, was there with her daughter and some other people I didn't know. Joy handed me a newspaper and the front page was blank except for the words, The World Will Be Closed Tomorrow. It was chilling to say the least. We were watching tv (I don't consider myself a tv junkie, but maybe I've been watching CNN too much lately) and the news was showing all the cars fleeing the city. Some kind of plastic reflective covering had been put over the windows of the classrooms to shield from the flash. I had peeled back a piece of the covering so I could see outside when the flash came.
I've heard that a lot of people dream in black and white. Well let me tell you, I dream in full blown Technicolor and this one was The Wizard of Oz of doomsday scenarios. I'll take the old "naked in public" and "flying and falling" dreams anyday. That newspaper headline is burned into my mind, but I suppose it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. If there's ever some kind of nuclear holocaust, I'd prefer to be at ground zero...gone in an millisecond rather than face radiation sickness, cancer and slow death. Besides, I would be useless when it came time to repopulate the world.
This dream came on the tail end of a fairly good, but hectic weekend. I recorded Jennifer Wheelock for The Business of Words (thanks for the great interview, JW), had lunch with an old pal, watched Monster (Charlize Theron definitely deserved that Oscar, but I can add this film to the "saw it, glad I did, never need to see it again" category) and read at Java Monkey. Who knows why the mind conjures up this scary shit.
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