A Dream of Cotton Mather [by Mitch Sisskind]

 

Flat on my back on the rusted chassis

Of an old car from which the driver's seat

Has been removed my foot is still able

To reach the gas pedal and I know my

Task will be to back the wreck up the 

Narrow inclined board upon which it now 

Rests worrisome though that is as I lack 

Confidence in the engine and also in my 

Ability to steer the chassis up the inclined 

Board while on my back and facing in the

Wrong direction. This takes place in the 

Cramped semi-darkness of some creepy

Hotel's rat-infested basement or coal chute

Whose walls are slick with a rancid humidity

And then as I hesitatingly step on the gas 

An attractive thirty-something woman attired

In a navy blue short-skirted business suit

Materializes out of nowhere and with a 

Wry smile observes my contraption starting 

To move, its engine grinding and whining

But actually doing better than I expected

Inching its way up the inclined board 

As the corporate woman glides along

Behind it until we reach the chute's crest

Beyond which I somehow intuit there lies

An entirely new and brightly lit reality. 

'Hey, nice get,' says the woman smiling

Broadly now as the last words of 

Cotton Mather suddenly come to me:

'Is this death? Why, I can do this!

'Death? Oh yes, yes, I can do this!' 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Karen Beckworth]

I really like the ending.