I saw a city
out on the horizon
of an endless prairie.
Grand skyscrapers
buildings of beautiful architecture
but it began to crumble.
One by one, buildings
folded into dust.
There was a house
it was important to me
the way things just are
in dreams.
The house was not
where I needed to be
but inside
I knew there was a black girl
waiting for me under a blanket.
As I tried to reach the house I grew
with each step
my body became gigantic
until like Alice
I could never fit into the door.
So I grew so big
I traversed the prairie
in one step.
I woke in a van.
It was the black van my father
had converted to a motor-home
for our family vacations.
It had a big dirtbike
painted on the side.
Only my father was there
driving silently
my fighting brothers where not there
nor was my anxious mother.
Suddenly we stopped.
A girl from my highschool
walked onto the van
she grabbed a handbag that was left on the seat
then she got off into the arms
of her black boyfriend
who wore a cadets uniform.
As my father drove us onward
I realized we were driving through
a training ranch for cadets.
A horse galloped through a banner
with a touristy quip like
“Y’all Come Back!”
Two cadets fought
in a fenced enclosure
with bayonets and white hats.
We drove under a gate
a wild First Nations girl
skated on the frozen mud
long black hair behind a white mask
she grinned at me knowingly
and I also spied a father and son
sharpening spears
preparing to hunt bison.
As my father drove the van
down an icy hill
the First Nations girl
skated alongside us
a spear in her hand
a wild smile
behind her mask.
craig:bednar 