I Am Going to Cause a Tiger

And so, as I sleep, some dream beguiles me, and suddenly I know I am dreaming.

Then I think: this is a dream, a pure diversion of my will; 
and now that I have unlimited power, 
I am going to cause a tiger.

~ Jorge Luis Borges

Do not wake me, says the dreamer,

let me pass through Indian forests

and glimpse the crushing velvet,

the hunter's molten eye.

Let me speak Blake in my sleep,

grind syllables between my teeth

like citadels of crashing light,

forming meteors that arc the iris -

fallen stars devoured

by my own slumbering depths.

Let me whisper to my darkness

the golden oath I dreamt:

I am going to cause a tiger.

But do not wake me. Not yet.

Song of Ourselves

March 8th was International Women's Day. A few weeks earlier, I had written a personal reflection on what it means to be a woman today. It was published last Friday on American Public Media's On Being blog. You can read the essay here:

SONG OF OURSELVES

My mother, Jacqueline and her dear friend Judith, Haifa, Israel

New Blog: FireWired

New year, new job, new city, new blog! I've begun work on FireWired, a blog about education, technology, and social justice. Readers and suggestions welcome.