Rootless dream

Poem (Geneva) 03.2025

3/27/20251 min read

I wake up,

Dreaming,

In another man’s body

Thin, worked, middle-aged body

Last week, I saw him on a computer screen,

In a frame, boxed, and clean

When I opened my mouth,

A high-pitched noise came out

Sweat in the palms of two hands,

Resting on my knees,

Restlessly

Inside, a little voice plead

“Hire me - please

Free me from the golden prison I am in

And bring me

To another place”

Where I can suffer, but differently

Where I can feel like I’m doing good

Something of meaning and purpose

Whilst being shielded

From -

From what?

Last night,

I woke up,

In another man’s body

Strong mind, frail body

I went into the bathroom

As the walls squeezed on me

An assemblage of bones and flesh standing

In between

I looked into the mirror

A double image

There was him

There was me, inside of him

And then I noticed,

Something was loose in my mouth

I move my tongue and put some pressure on one tooth,

And though I did not want to see,

It moves

I use my hand, to move it,

It yields

I pull it out

And then one by one I inspect the other,

Though I would have rather not looked,

Because

They are all loose

They were all loose,

All along

So i took them out,

One by one,

With an odd amount of calmness,

The time has come

And then I put some water into my mouth,

And watched it flow out of my mouth

Tainted in red

I felt into my mouth

There was a rootless existence

As if someone lifted you up,

And out,

And erased your memories

Here I was,

Where,

Again?

I thought I was

The place where I wanted to be

But as I stood

In front of the mirror

I felt into my mouth

And it was all empty