Bring Me a Dream

Ping Yi

The gods of slumber come in forms
endless – Mamu, Hypnos-Somnus
and for added convenience, jars
of thirty-six, seventy-two:
drug free, non habit-forming with
berry taste, online and in-store.

I reach for the Sandman’s phylactery,
dispelling his glyphs geometric
as the crickets chant, lifting his
purple plastic cap as the fridge
prays, hacking Randi-Z’s penta-
lemma without a pentagram.

Waking fetal in my treehouse,
spear of dawn herding the nimbus,
ninety-nine errands to pursue.
Mounting stairs nautiloid, through hall
and cloakroom to submit my draft,
willing flight to exceed time’s grasp.

Evoking too love that holds hands,
that becomes one and kin, that soars
looping the loop above land’s end
– for I am home again,
Morpheus steaming through my veins
while the world lets this sleeping god lie.

The Science

I remember vividly a 2011 tweet from Randi Zuckerberg, US businesswoman: The entrepreneur’s dilemma: Maintaining friendships. Building a great company. Spending time w/ family. Staying fit. Getting sleep. Pick 3. This quote brings out the tensions and trade-offs we face, whether applied to commerce or other human endeavours.  My poem explores people’s use of melatonin in modern life – there is also a child-friendly version – and their potential psychological dependence, although melatonin is not physically addictive. The second half of the poem explores lucid dreaming which has been reported by some individuals during sleep research; I have very occasionally experienced this as well.

The Poet

Ping Yi writes poetry, travelogues and fiction, and is in public service. His work has appeared in Litro, London Grip, Dreich, Meniscus, La Piccioletta Barca, Poetry Breakfast, Wild Greens, ONE ART and Rising Phoenix Review, and is forthcoming in Harbor Review, The Prose Poem and The Word’s Faire. Ping Yi is from Singapore, and has lived in Cambridge, UK, and Boston, MA.

Next poem: Fish can recognize themselves in photos by Angeline Schellenberg