~
Third Dream
You wore the salmon-colored dress
with matching shoes. The scales
on your pantyhose sparkled
against the smoked, paprika sun.
Don’t be alarmed, you said.
This is the third dream
I interrupted tonight. I wanted
to sit up, rub the sleep crust
from my eyes, drag myself
into the kitchen, and fix you
the cardamom coffee you loved.
But I stayed, gripping the comforter,
or was it the hem of your dress?
I didn’t want to blur your towering
silhouette or overexpose the celluloid
of this dream. A mother walks
into the bedroom of her sleeping son.
Cut. Wearing a salmon-colored dress.
~
Poet Shahé Mankerian is the principal of St. Gregory Hovsepian School and the poetry co-editor at Rockvale Review. His debut poetry collection, History of Forgetfulness, will be published by Fly on the Wall Press in October of 2021.