You know the moment when you discover that other people have the same dream as you? I love that. I don't mean dream as in goal; goals are silly. Dreams are much more important. It's only recently come to my attention that lots of people (besides me) dream about discovering new rooms in houses they thought they knew. I've had the dream a few times, about a few different houses, but the feeling is always the same. I'm tremendously excited. There's more space! How could I have forgotten? How magnificent! Some cleaning will be needed, of course, but just think of everything we can do with the room!
I was talking about this dream with Dara Wier (who mentioned a dream of discovering a whole cave, which led her to write this) when I realized that I get a similar feeling, sometimes, if I'm lucky, when I'm writing a poem. It's not that I discover there's a way to get to a new idea or image--I'm always aware of that possibility--it's more that I realize there's a whole other way of thinking that I had forgotten was accessible.
The other day I figured out how to play King's Quest 5 (Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder), a pretty old computer game, on my new laptop. That is not like finding a new room in a house. That is like very purposefully digging a tunnel into your past. My past. But the game does involve spaces changing, new routes becoming available. You just have to be patient, hide and wait for the bandits to come to the temple, say.
I kind of can't believe I am typing about this.
Ben Hersey, one of the performers I most admire, has an incredible sense of patience, an awesome ability to wait for words to show him how they want to change even as he speaks them. You can see what I mean in this performance, beginning just before minute 7 (though I recommend watching the whole thing, of course):
If you get through to minute 14, Ben bursts into something like song--which is what I feel like doing when watching him perform. Imagine if you discovered a room in your house with this man in it! That would be a dream home. Anyway, if you'd like to stay in the room for a while with Ben, here he is as Walt Whitman. I'll see myself out.
-- Heather Christle
