Last night I dreamt you were entirely 

 

in love and annoyed with me 

 

at the same time.

 

You were using one of those hand crank mixers

 

with the two spinning bulbs, 

 

and every few seconds

 

you’d pull the mixer out of the batter, fling batter

 

onto the side of my face, smile at me

 

and say, You’re like nothing I’ve ever known!

 

Stop doing that! Stop doing that! Stop doing that!

 

Eventually my entire face was buried 

 

in batter. My eyes were buried into my head 

 

so you looked so far away. 

 

I kept trying to tell you about Joseph Beuys

 

and the dead rabbit in his lap 

 

and how I’d hold you like that rabbit 

 

and how you would hold onto me like that rabbit 

 

when the time came to do so.

 

But the batter kept coming and coming 

 

until you had no more batter left. 

 

And after you looked down into the empty bowl, 

 

you placed your hands against my face 

 

and peeled away the batter 

 

and slung it to the floor saying, 

 

never again will we victimize goodness 

 

alone or in person. 

 

I watched you until I came through again. 

 

I watched you until I was free

 

to return to you changed and shared in memory.