44,000 (May 4, 2010)

The scientists who study dreams

the oneirologists, tell us

we dream every night

many times a night

but is it one long dream

like a Fellini movie playing all night

or a string of Bugs Bunny shorts?

In 60 years, in 21,900 nights

I have watched 65,700 movies

if I dreamed only 3 times a night.

And how many movies would you miss

if, say, you were in Ohio at Kent State

or in Mississippi at Jackson State

in May 1970, if you were

Sandra Scheuer

Jeffrey Miller

William Schroeder

Allison Krause

if you were

Phillip Lafayette Gibbs

if you were

James Earl Green

if you were 17, or 19, or 20, or 21 years old

if your dreams were punctured by a bullet?

2 lifetimes ago, dreams not forgotten

dreams lost, movies missed 

more than dreamed in a lifetime

44,000 more than they dreamed in a lifetime