Dream About You

by Mish (Eileen) Murphy


Last night I dreamed about you:
You were a pirate.
Not one of the dirty ones,
but a high-class pirate with the whitest teeth.

Sexy, but dangerous.
Yum.

We were on the deck
of a sailing ship,
no land in sight.

You’d tied me to one of the masts
with ropes.
I was hoping
you were going to ravish me.

You wore three gold earrings,
and I wondered in the dream:
Where’s the tattoo with my name on it?
I thought you had one, but…

The scenario shifted
to a cocktail party
in the suburbs
on a backyard deck.

I wore a long white linen dress.
Well, it was more of a nightgown,
a gauzy one
that made me look
half-naked.

Despite that,
you left me tied up
and wandered off,
holding a goblet of red wine,
looking for your partner.

Then I was
in my college dorm room
in a swivel chair,
sitting on
my boyfriend’s lap.

Whee—I squealed.
Let’s spin the chair.
Spin, spin, spin.

Suddenly, an alarm began to wail.

Fire, I heard somebody yell.
Put it out, said somebody else.


* * * * *

Mish (Eileen) Murphy is Assistant Poetry Editor for Cultural Daily (www.CulturalDaily.com). She teaches English/literature online at Polk State College, Lakeland, Florida. A Pushcart nominee, she has published two poetry collections—Fortune Written on Wet Grass (2019) and Sex & Ketchup (2021)—and a poetry chapbook, Evil Me (2020). Mish graduated with a B.A. from New College, Sarasota, in French /Russian, and Columbia College of Chicago, in Fiction Writing/Teaching of Writing. She is also an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and book designer.