how do you move in dreams?

(inspired by Timothy J Knab’s A War of Witches)

the nahua believe
that everyone has
an animal
in the underworld 

born on the same day
at the same time. 
they are our eyes
in dreams--

creeping low on the ground
or perched on a tree
they give us eyes to see
in dreams. 

so
   how do you move
in dreams?

do you stride tail-up
through the brush
or swim in the sea
or fly high above?

i dreamt recently 
that i could not drive
from one place to another
because of a great flood

of water blocking my path.
i saw the depths of the water
as i hovered above
watched my car sinking

hovering

later in a room a woman
came to me. she looked
like my mother's relative, and i asked
who she was. 

she said she was inside me
she didn't want to answer
she shifted to a young black woman 
and back to an ageless white one

and showed me the corner of a mattress
referencing a childhood fear
and i began screaming
i screamed and screamed

and no-one came

and i looked
in the mirror
as i screamed

and saw a woman
the same who appeared
in the dreams of a man i used to love

mouth open
jaw unhinged 
with a hissing sucking scream 

emanating from the blackness of her
open throat 
insatiable need
a trauma you feed
trauma
trauma
trauma

so

   how do you move 
in dreams?

when i was a child i learnt
how to fly 
in dreams. 
i knew i was dreaming 

because i could jump up
and then hover
swimming through the air
not flying 

but swimming 
a butterfly stroke 
through the air
hovering 

fluttering