"A Piece of a Dream"

I lay on the ground,
Flat on my back
Peering up at sky
Watching, watching as the clouds float by
Clouds taking on the shape of many things,
Animals
Plants
Trees
My uncle Larry.

The clouds, they’re shaped funny
Wide, thin, tall, short
I close my eyes,
And I make the same wish as I always do
I dream, I wish to hold just a tiny piece of the cloud,
A small piece, small enough to carry around with me,
Small enought to carry in the pocket of my cut off jeans.

And for the first time, I reach up and I grab a piece
Pinched off a piece of a cloud
It is small and fluffy, just as white as it is when it floats across the sky.
Neither hot nor cool, but soft, and the same temperature as I am,
Because I keep it in the front pocket of my cut off jeans,

And as I got older, I kept it in my bra, close to my heart.
And on my wedding day, it was that “Something old”
And it was there with me when I birthed my children,
I rubbed a piece of this dream against their faces
Knowing that it would bring hope, good luck, and good fortune to their lives,
Just as much as it had done for me all my life.

Uncle Larry, in his old age, leaning on his cane said, "You know, when you were little, and you had your eyes closed, I put that piece of cotton in your fingers. You ran around telling every one that it was a piece of a cloud."

I was disappointed, although I must say that I could understand.
Uncle Larry doing what he could to make me happy
Make my dreams come true.
That was his joy, that was his way.

And now I’m an old woman, lying on my death bed,
Passing it down to my oldest child
The next family matriarch
Wrapping it in her hand
Telling her to hold tight,
Hold tight to this cloud
This tiny piece of a dream
Which has brought me
Which has brought us
Which has brought our family so very far.


From September 10, 2010, Women of Color Writing Workshop. Writing prompt: we were each given a piece of a cotton ball, and asked to write about it for 10 minutes.