The nightmare repeats itself:
A daughter clamped tight to each foot
Pulling her down under
The brute waters of her biggest lake;
She gasps,
Imagines she's drowning
While her husband watching from the bank
Keels over from a heart attack.
A colossal carp looms under her nose;
She smells blood
Dripping from a dozen hooks dangling
From his mouth.
His eyes slide out easy
As the drawer of a cash register.
Each eye-socket a window
To her own soul—$ bills
With little jackpots on them
Jump up and dance like clowns
Poking out their tongues,
Flapping campaign signs
With hammers, sickles, swastikas --
She believes yes she can.
Morning shivers her awake again,
Stumbling to the bathroom
Where the mirror flashes
In her face that same ugly carp
That has been catching her dreams
And throwing them back
As she chases each $,
Never quite able to grasp enough.

 

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