For Boris G.,bozlich.gather.com, a poet who dreams poetry, then makes poems of his dreams. You will be amazed when you read some of his articles. I particularly recommend: REVELATA CELESTIAÂ and REVELATA SUBTERRANEA. These two are based on dreams Boris had.Â
Boris and I were talking recently about dreams, which brought to mind a dream I had two years ago. I originally wrote this dream but in a different form. Here is the story of the dream and the poem that resulted.
***
This poem was based on a dream from two years ago; actually, I was typing a comment on a Gather article I had written about healthcare - and I was asleep; I woke up to discover that someone had typed: desert cell, solitary mats, no baby carrier, babies hand carried; in my mind's eye, I saw an image of my daughter running with a baby (my daughter is still a teenager). Someone had typed the comment on my computer, and that someone was me, while I was asleep.
Immediately, I realized what the dream meant: it was about polygamy. My great-grandfathers had plural wives in Utah during a time in which this was common. Unlike the fundamentalist cult groups in Texas or Utah/Arizona run by Warren Jeffs, which married off underage women to older men, the polygamy of the 19th century Utah was among women who were of age.
Nevertheless, I apparently feared for my daughter and felt the pains of my ancestry in the words that almost typed themselves.
The image of 'red pillars' is an image of Bryce Canyon or similar formation that rise like spires to kiss the sun; yet, in many areas of Utah, one cannot see far - the mountains interfere with a long-view of an endless horizon, such as we often see here on the East Coast. People can see only the short view, not the long view, hence the 'walled-in: no vision in, no vision out.'
***
Here is a link for a photo Gallery of the Yearning for Zion Compound in Eldorado, Texas. (Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper affiliated with the LDS church.). Photos of the teen mothers in their long dresses and buns, taking their children and infants out for a stroll, the young boys who are not men but nearly men, after they left the compound. The gallery includes photos of the ranch itself, with the large temple, massive homes. Deseret News Photo Gallery
***
Desert cell
From a desert cell of solitary
mats in blood-soaked
skirts my daughter
runs: feet bare, clothes shredded;
women walk, no baby carrier but
babies hand-carried;
My daughter's head is wrapped in towel,
baby in arms, while outside, red pillars spiral
toward the sun and dance
over the horizon:
walled-in -- no vision in, no vision out;
she lay down, bore six children,
her virgin soul stained my own,
while pillars danced and you laughed.
Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 Kathryn Esplin-Oleski
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Comments: 81
10 4 u
I'm truly touched by your kind dedication and recommendation of my work and I'm glad to have provided the impetus for you to post this poem.
I do like this new version, it flows easily and the new addition of the very last line adds that little bit extra of surrealism to the imagery.
It's also interesting to read your interpretation of this dream, it's great that you have been able to work it out, I'm still trying to work out the meanings of some of my dreams 10 years after I've dreamed them!
However, Warren Jeffs' father, Rulon Jeffs, a strange man himself, started the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints, in 1930, in a compound similar to the YFZ compound in Texas. By 1950, news of some abuses (not sure which kind) were beginning to leak out into the communities in Arizona and Utah. A police raid took place but with disastrous consequences. Since that time, until recently, when Carolyn Jessup (former wife of Merril Jessop who ran the YFZ Compound) escaped just a couple of years ago and was instrumental in helping to catch Warren Jeffs now behind bars, the authorities cast a blind eye toward the deeeds of the FLDS.
Yes, the FLDS days appear to be numbered.
Gather is introducing Hawthorne tonight, in which you can view your own profile views Spotlight 4 of your articles and 4 images or audio/video on your namespace, and many other exciting features I'm sure you will love.
Thanks, Magi, Kimberly, Elizabeth Madrigal
Thanks all.
sometimes i ask, what good are dreams? they make fears conscious and i suppose conscious is best. but here was another answer, and i will try my hand on the next ecstacy or night terror, be it as it may... xoxox ~laura
How can ANY church in which children are brain-washed into following a religion that mandates girls being, in a sense, GIVEN to men and forced into complete SUBMISSION irrespective of our Bill of Rights claim religious persecution? The FDLS is likening the raid, warrants, and investigation to doing the same to the Pope in the Vatican. How highly they think themselves to be! NO ONE should be above investigation and research. Look how long we cast a blind eye on the allegations against the Catholic Church ... and now we're just not going to tolerate such behavior any longer.
As for the dream itself, which I had hoped to have as the focus of my comment when I started ... Maybe your ancestors have regret for their lifestyles or perhaps fear for your young, choosing to convey this to you and yours through your dreams? The dead CAN talk ... we just don't often know how to listen.
Boris is really a great person and I simply adore his work.
Amazing what we think of while we're sleeping.
Your poetry has hit a new level of depth and sophistication, though it doesn´t need my benediction for you to know that.