In My Dream You Were Church Regulated

by

Published March 1st, 2006

in my dream you were church regulated,

and I could only talk to you from another room,

the wallpaper was generally heterosexual,

and the lampshades entailed certain rights.

I couldn’t follow you then when you were

outside just beyond the door, with your back

to the house where the couple establishes

their own household; and then when you were

at the top of the pine, the one that stands a grand

figure out at the edge, you were waving down

not at me, but at the young or infant daughter

of another man, and I walked away from you,

and went inside, and shut the door, and said a prayer

and men formed alliances in the exchange.

About the Author
Heidi Lynn Stapes, a part-time faculty member at Syracuse University, is the author of the poetry collection, Guess Can Gallop (New Issues, 2004). Her poetry has appeared in Best American Poetry of 2004, Denver Quarterly, Electronic Poetry Review, La Petite Zine, and the Georgia Review.