Nina's Dream

I open my eyes and above me in the dark, something moves. A watery
shimmer in the darkening air. I know it is evening. The moon is a high
bright thing in a sky so full of stars that the light dazzles me. A
night creature shrieks. Blood sings in my head. I imagine clouds blown
across the blue. I can hear words breaking the surface of the silence.
A voice that calls to me from outside my sleep, drawing my mind back to
its periphery.

A flash of a dogs eyes. You are moonlight in the bottle.

Lift me out of this twilight. I see lights up ahead and there's music.
Light dancing rhythm and wolf-howl. My footsteps make hollow sounds on
the polished floor. My eyes slither from left to right.

Will you not talk to me? Talk to me.

The music gets louder. Percussive. Words that insinuate themselves into
my brain. There is brightness up ahead. A hubbub of voices. A party, I
think. And I like parties. Will you take me? Will you kiss me.

The moon is yellow above us. Your dog's eyes are yellow like the moon.
I think I see your teeth, canine and gleaming. A door swings open and I
am in a neon world.

A neon world. Music bends the night. So dance and I'll will reward you
with my kiss. Your fingers are sinuous, lightly touching, lightly
touching my cheek, the back of my neck. I imagine clouds blown across
the blue. I can hear words breaking the surface of the silence. A voice
that calls to me from outside my sleep, drawing my mind back to its
periphery.

Buy me a drink will you? Something hard-edged to give me the feeling
I'm alive. . And then we can dance. Gavotte. Step into the space and
pretend we're lovers. Turn in slow circles to music that makes us want
to move faster.

Will you not dance with me? Dance with me.

Circling, spinning movements. And lights flash around my head. Its hot.
Too hot. I'm stifled and a cry is building in me. Seeking expression. I
see you at the foot of the stair and I move towards you, my feet
dragging as if in clay. My feet dragging. I imagine clouds blown across
the blue. I can hear words breaking the surface of the silence. A voice
that calls to me from outside my sleep, drawing my mind back to its
periphery .

Rise. The bright air above calls me. Rise. I can smell the sea. I can
shake you off, you animal touches leave traces on my skin. An odour of
the earth, of the cages. I see the flash of the sun up ahead. I hear
the crash of the sea. I imagine clouds blown across the blue. I can
hear words breaking the surface of the silence. A voice that calls to
me from outside my sleep, drawing my mind back to its periphery.