Dream of Shivering
In the dream
Which is never a dream
Until you realize
You’re dreaming
And wake up
I couldn’t stop shivering
First at a party where
It wasn’t really that cold
Trying to hide it
By softening my cheeks
Around my chattering teeth
So that I looked hallowed
Like the kid at the party
No one knows but everyone
Wants to talk to
Then in a store
Buying printer paper
Until I realized
I didn’t need printer paper
But a mouthguard
But the mouthguard
Didn’t keep my teeth
From knocking together
So hard I could feel them
Breaking into pieces
Which I spat out
Into my palm
And rattled in my hand
Like unmarked die
As I walked through a town
In Old West Wyoming
Where the streets were mud
Into which were carved
Hundreds of tiny swastikas
Like how a potter carves
Her name precisely
In the soft red clay
With a knife before the firing
Until I came to a building
I seemed to have been trying
To reach the whole time
With a sign over the door
That said
Shiver Clinic
The sign was electronic
Flickering as if
It too was shivering
Inside they were handing out
The sole cure for shivering
Blankets
One per shiverer
And next thing I knew
I was waking up under one
Warm and with
All my teeth