Time is drifting backwards, wearing Noah's raincoat

[sovay]

The night before last, I dreamed that I was writing two different versions of an event that I was also simultaneously living through, a raid in a culture that was not sixth-century Greek and not eighth-century Viking, but which shared visual traits from both; everyone was outfitted and armed for cold weather, but there were amphorae in the hold and blue eyes painted on the prow of the ship. There was some ritual or festival aspect to the act, which did not preclude physical danger. I remember writing, erasing, and rewriting a description of a young man with dark hair that kept getting in his eyes, but I have no idea who he was. I do not remember if anyone died.

Possibly this mash-up can be explained by one of the dreams I remember from last night: I had inherited or been assigned half a dozen cardboard boxes of old paperback science fiction and fantasy from the 1960's and '70's to sort through, except that none of the authors or titles existed in this world. There were a few DVDs, too; ditto. None of which I can describe in anything more than fragments, of course. A conflict between an observant father and a rebellious son, but their religion commemorated a poisoning. One of the covers on the paperbacks showed a lionlike creature with a mane of bone spines, erupting into charred green flame. My dreams are full of other places' stories, but I can never bring them out with me.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

I love your dreams. I wish you could bring them out.

Nine

[sovay]

I wish you could bring them out.

The entirety of "The Drowned Men's Waltz" and the name of Cairo Pritchard are words I brought out from dreams, but those are rare. What is more common are stories like "Little Fix of Friction," where the protagonist's dream is based on one of my own, or "The Salt House," whose ghost story is a variant on a nightmare I had more than a dozen years ago. I have some poems like "Plague-Bearer" and "Follow Me Home" whose direct inspirations were dreams, but the relationship between first image and result is still elliptical at best.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I think there should be a category of dream which is dreams of plenty. In your case, you were dreaming (in the second part) about an abundance of science fiction and fantasy stories. I've had dreams like that about Beatles albums, as a kid. I dreamed I found Beatles albums on my parents' shelves that had rare, unfamiliar tunes on them, and it was such a happy find. I can remember the album cover, but it didn't really exist. I can remember the nature of the tunes, but not any actual tunes or words. So too: you remember the covers and the plot summaries, or elements of them, but not the full stories.

More trivially, I've also had dreams like that about clothes in my closet :-)

[sovay]

I think there should be a category of dream which is dreams of plenty.

Yes. My dreams are full of stories and plays and movies that don't exist. And I wish some of them did!

[thehornedgod.livejournal.com]

Your dream posts never fail to make me envious. Maybe you could have a special dreamcatcher made, one that doesn't only snare nightmares, but the problem might be finding treasures valuable enough to barter them for.

[sovay]

Maybe you could have a special dreamcatcher made, one that doesn't only snare nightmares

May I steal that idea?

[thehornedgod.livejournal.com]

Heh, please do. I shan't demand a dream-tythe.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

My, those are fascinating.

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

My dreams are full of other places' stories, but I can never bring them out with me.

Hmm...that makes me wonder. I always think the world (even the elements) are speaking through you; maybe also speaking through you are these other times and places. You're just a treasure of things, even in sleep.

I also like the notion someone else said--that there might be categories of dreams, one being dreams of plenty.

[sovay]

I always think the world (even the elements) are speaking through you; maybe also speaking through you are these other times and places.

Maybe this is why oracles are so fragmentary . . .