Reoccurring Nightmare

Reoccurring nightmare
night after night
the same house
three stories and huge
room for everyone
and everyone together, happy.
The second story is filled
with antique furniture from
my grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ houses,
each piece beautiful and waxed
with memories and love, wall to wall.
The third story, the attic, is where
the demon lives. When he
touched me, I couldn’t move or breathe
no escape and he was pulling
the life out of me
no one believed me
and so he roamed free, coming
down to torment me, my fear
one of the purest feelings I have known.
I always woke up to get away,
shaken and anxious and fearful.

The interpretation could be that I love my family
and I want us to always be together
I also cherish the memories of loved ones gone on
and their dear and old fashioned ways,
but I feel that death is always ready to take me
and that terrifies me

Family photo of an actual “haunted” house our family lived in, circa 1962

Copyright ©2026 Lisa Paul. All rights reserved.

For today’s Poetics, I would like you to write a poem that interprets a dream. It can be about falling— where falling is not fear, but release. Let gravity feel like permission. What did you finally stop holding onto? 

It can be about missing a train, time leaves without you. Tell us about lateness, regret, and the beauty of arriving nowhere. The prompt is wide open.  

New to dVerse? Here’s how to join in:

• Write a poem (in any form) in response to the challenge.
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Poetics – Dream Interpretations