Terry Talks in His Sleep

Terry talks in his sleep

Karen sits up in bed
Looking down at him
Hearing his sleep talk
Tumble out

'Blue gotta run up to sunlight'

It's sort of like poetry
Coming out of this sleeping dentist
Who spends his days
Dreaming of Greece
Where he and Karen met

She listens to him
Like a radio program
And finds out things
He forgets to tell her during the day

'Microwave making food colder'

She had known that for two weeks
But she was happy to hear
That Terry had finally picked up on it

'The porch smells like turkey'

Karen disagreed
It smelled like pot roast
Not that either smell was acceptable

'I miss my Dad a lot sometimes'

Karen missed Terry's Dad too
He always brought her candy
And called her Tamara

The mistake was somehow endearing
That's how sweet a man
His father was

Sometimes Terry doesn't talk
Sometimes he just makes sounds

Sometimes he's the ocean
Sometimes he's a parrot
Sometimes he's the hum of the refrigerator

Then there are nights
When he recites things

He'll recite the children's birthdays
He'll recite every movie he's even seen in chronological order
He'll recite the lyrics to 'Midnight Train to Georgia'

Then he'll stop
And that will be that

More often than not
Karen will hear him
Saying things to her

'Did you stop writing because of me?'

She'll roll over
And answer him

'I never stopped writing. I just stopped talking about writing.'

An hour later...

'Did you want more kids?'
'No, I just wanted smarter kids.'

Two hours later...

'Have I been a good husband?'
'Up until now, you've been stellar.'

In the morning
He doesn't remember these exchanges
And in some odd way
Karen feels as if
She's having a nightly affair
With a much more communicative man

'Have you ever had an affair?'
'No, but I thought about it once. Susan's third grade teacher--Mr. Marlone? I thought he was really something. Turns out so did Mr. Cannavar, the art teacher.'

Sometimes she'd put on music
Since nothing could wake up Terry
Once he was talking

She'd play Etta James
And put on a flimsier nightgown
And they'd have pillow talk
Like they were twenty again

'What did you think the first time we had sex?'
'I kept wondering why you were crying. I thought maybe you were so moved by what was happening that you just couldn't contain yourself. Then I thought, Oh God, please don't let this man cry every time we have sex. Then I realized that you were just crying because you were in pain, because we had rolled over into a thorn bush. Laying there in that garden at two o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday, with you bloody and stuck with thorns all over, all I could think was--Wow, he kept going. That was when I knew I was going to marry you.'

She started to become tired
Because she was staying up all night
Talking to her husband

One day he came home from work
To find her bent over the ironing board
Fast asleep on one of Michael's shirts

He took her up to bed
Laying her down
And pulling the covers over her

As he started to walk out of the room
He heard her mumble something

'What, Karen?'
'I can't sleep--I have to--'
'I'll iron Michael's shirt.'
'I'm sorry I've been so tired lately. I just...'

But then she was asleep

'It's okay,' Terry said, 'We can talk about it later.'