Sunday, November 13, 2005

"The Persistence of Memory"

One of the Twin Towers still stands in a small desert. Or maybe it is a deserted dock. That's what it feels like, though I can't see the water. I am with two other people. I know them. We run by the tower, into a warehouse, to steal a piece of furniture. I take the drawers out so I can carry them away. An officer discovers us and orders us to leave. I put the drawers down. We run. We run by the tower again.

I am running in my sleep, kicking the blankets off, lifting one leg after the other in swift succession. Running dreams come often to me. I can't remember the other thieves.

An animal is chasing us, I think a lion cub. We are so close to the tower. I wonder if this one will fall too.

I wake up still thinking that one of the towers remains.

It is only a brief span, between when the first tower falls and the second. I wonder: what will New York do now that the Twin Towers are only one? Will it remain? Or will it be knocked down to make room for something new? It doesn't cross my mind that the other may fall as well.

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posted by Jill at 2:43 PM

26 Comments:

  • dreams are a very interesting and important thing I believe.

    By Blogger Justin Kreutzmann, At Sun Nov 13, 05:33:00 PM 2005  

  • i am certain you aren't the only one whose subconcious continues to be haunted by 9/11.

    on the weird dream note, i have recently been having burglar dreams. one time i was being burgled and the other time i was a thief. odd.

    By Blogger Amanda, At Sun Nov 13, 06:10:00 PM 2005  

  • The dust has long settled from that tragic now long ago day. Not so long as to erase the memory, but long enough to forget it in the day to day. Time has a way of erasing wounds, but never truly healing them. I stand here this day in the bright morning sun. Leaves have begun to turn on the sparse trees that dot the manmade landscape. The air has a crispness, but also a sorrow, like the air you breathe over the grave of a departed friend. There is a paleness to my soul, as if I carry a ghost from a part of me that has died and not yet passed into another realm.

    By Blogger Daniel, At Sun Nov 13, 11:29:00 PM 2005  

  • Some dreams are soo real!


    (I have tried to link to you but I am having problems - can you please let me have the link for your blog? Somehow I cannot get directly here from mine :( )

    By Blogger Miladysa, At Mon Nov 14, 04:44:00 AM 2005  

  • a state of dream is a state of bliss, why can't we live in dreams?

    By Blogger -RM, At Mon Nov 14, 09:35:00 AM 2005  

  • Justin: Thanks for stopping by!

    Amanda: Odd indeed. Probably not the oddest thing about either of our lives, but odd nonetheless!

    Daniel: That's lovely. Sad but lovely.

    Miladysa: Let me know if the link I sent you via email works.

    RM: I guess it goes back to that old question of how do we know we are not living in a dream right now? It makes me want to drink too much and watch The Matrix until I pass out.

    By Blogger Jill, At Mon Nov 14, 10:24:00 AM 2005  

  • Hi Jill. So when are you going to answer my email?

    I waited by my computer all weekend. Didn't eat...didn't sleep...

    By Blogger Thomas, At Mon Nov 14, 10:53:00 AM 2005  

  • I still have dreams that I'm back on the 58th floor of the north tower, where I used to work. There are wires hanging down and sparking and everything is covered in dust and ashes, but the building is still standing and I'm there to work, at my old desk. I still find it very haunting.

    By Blogger Lizzie, At Mon Nov 14, 12:43:00 PM 2005  

  • DUDE! That's salvador Dali! SWEET!

    By Blogger Dirk the Feeble, At Mon Nov 14, 01:42:00 PM 2005  

  • Awesome prose to go with the Salvador Dali.

    By Blogger angel, jr., At Mon Nov 14, 01:56:00 PM 2005  

  • Same thoughts ran through my mind at the time. Cause it's all just so inconceivable.

    By Blogger Cheryl, At Mon Nov 14, 02:47:00 PM 2005  

  • I still dream of being in Windows on the World, and seeing the buildings start to slip from beneath me---the dream I've had perhaps a dozen times since 9/11. It would seem that nightmares such as these are in our collective minds, because we remember the places so well. If I close my eyes, I can see the foot of my chair and the carpet, a napkin on my lap. Strange.

    By Blogger Ariel1980, At Mon Nov 14, 02:54:00 PM 2005  

  • Hold your horses, Publius. Don't everyone in Texas have horses just like our cowboy presidente? Yee-f'n-ha.

    Armaedes, thanks for lightening things up. I was concerned that this was a bit of a downer, considering the usual stuff I dish up around here.

    Thank you all for visiting, for your kind words, and for sharing your dreams as well. Good to know I'm not alone.

    By Blogger Jill, At Mon Nov 14, 03:02:00 PM 2005  

  • I had sporadic dreams about the towers for a year. I can still SMELL the burning of Ground Zero. Taste it on my tongue. All these years later. I'm certain I'll never forget what it felt like to be in NYC during this time.

    By Blogger AJ Gentile, At Mon Nov 14, 05:04:00 PM 2005  

  • After reading this post, I was bound to see the other ones. I hate you becouse your blog took a great amount of my most-precious time and again I love you becouse you're writing is great. It is dynamic, interesting and can be seen in a thousand ways... The writing I like. Keep up the good work. You've earned yourself another reader.

    By Blogger Sulphur, At Mon Nov 14, 06:57:00 PM 2005  

  • I am expecting a pony from Santa this year, Jill.

    By Blogger Thomas, At Mon Nov 14, 06:58:00 PM 2005  

  • AJ: me too.

    Sulphur: Thank you very much.

    Publius: is that before or after you study real hard like a good little boy?

    By Blogger Jill, At Mon Nov 14, 07:03:00 PM 2005  

  • Sometimes all I can think about that day is: They got us.

    You know? They got us.

    I have a recurring tornado dream.

    There was a big tornado a week or two after 9/11 down here in DC. I saw it. From where I was, it looked like it was right over downtown. It didn't touch down until it got into Maryland - ripped through UMD. I was wondering if it was the end of the world or what, you know

    That was quite a post, Jill.

    By Blogger Bobby, At Mon Nov 14, 07:54:00 PM 2005  

  • wow... Ive had those legs running dreams where you kick the covers off before as well... very real and very scary

    I hope you find peace gorgeous Jill

    romey

    By Blogger Romeo Jensen, At Mon Nov 14, 08:24:00 PM 2005  

  • Ah. The Dreams that are Only Dreams. Have you ever read The Night Land?

    You've given me an idea to steal for my blog...

    By Blogger anaglyph, At Mon Nov 14, 09:08:00 PM 2005  

  • Thanks, Bobby. I think we were all wondering what more could possibly happen. I understand.

    Romey, you write macho, but you're such a sweetheart.

    Anaglyph: What is that? Tell me what to read. Whichever ideas you get from here, I'm happy to share.

    By Blogger Jill, At Mon Nov 14, 09:50:00 PM 2005  

  • this reminded me as much of katrina with the images of looting. i was staying in a hotel near broadway and 56th on 9/11 and the people with me swore they all had eerie dreams that night. i, of course, slept like a baby, having completely consumed a bottle of gin (and tap water, i'm ashamed to say)

    By Blogger ducklet, At Mon Nov 14, 10:33:00 PM 2005  

  • strange dream...9/11 haunts not only americans, but others as well. only after that incident it hit me that death does not come with warnings.

    By Blogger still_figuring_out, At Mon Nov 14, 10:37:00 PM 2005  

  • I should have consumed a bottle of gin. Instead, I ate a peach. It didn't stay down.

    By Blogger Jill, At Mon Nov 14, 10:51:00 PM 2005  

  • The Night Land is a book by William Hope Hodgson written in 1912. It is often classified as a horror story and mostly compared to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, assertions that are in my opinion quite misleading. It is sometimes subtitled 'A Tale of Eternal Love' which is one of the reasons it appeals to me.

    Wikipedia has an entry on it here but synopses like this don't really do it any justice. It's a flawed work for sure, but it is one of the most extraordinary imaginings ever put on paper. I think Project Gutenberg has it online, but it's seriously not the way to read it; you need an old dog-eared copy, a comfy chair, a darkened room and a rainy night. The language takes some getting used to, but you do, and the story is eerie and somehow very... real...

    By Blogger anaglyph, At Tue Nov 15, 01:16:00 AM 2005  

  • I'll try to dig up a copy.

    By Blogger Jill, At Tue Nov 15, 09:01:00 AM 2005  

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