Giant Mistake,
or
Hedgewitch’s 119th Surreal Dream
Working in
the campaign kitchen,
you hand me the poster.
Make a copy you say
of the tired Giant,
clutching spear,
eyes wild,
fighting the tiny army
shackling his ankles
piercing his hairy thighs with
iron hawsers, holding him
furious at bay.
Running the copier,
I doubt
even a Giant
even a Giant
can live through this.
August 2011
will be
Posted for Friday Flash 55 at the G-Man's
Yes, folks, another dream. Wish I could post the actual poster I 'saw' in it for you, but this old illustration will have to do. Not going to pretend I have it figured out, but my best guess is, things don't look so good for the country come next election.
Image: Trade card, advertising J. & P. Coats spool cotton, showing Lilliputians tying up Gulliver.
color lithograph, circa 1875
source: wikimedia commons
color lithograph, circa 1875
source: wikimedia commons
ha. the giant is out of control...wrote a politcal 55 today too but needed to lighten the mood so i am saving it...i agree with your interpretation....yikes...
ReplyDeleteThe labels on this post made me laugh out loud. "Who are these people?", indeed.
ReplyDeleteSeems like every year is an election year, these days. It's a bizarre reality tv without a mute button, a full volume assault on the intelligence and dignity of the (un)common folk.
As Swift said, "When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him."
ReplyDelete1.The Giant is who?
ReplyDelete2.Whats a Hawser?
3.How do you know that his thighs are hairy?
.
Loved the pic, you have some crazy dreams JA,
Thanks always for a Top Shelf 55.
Have a Kick Ass Week-End...G
@FB I like that. And you so raised the tone--not that it does much good around here.
ReplyDelete@G-Man Sigh. Okay I'll play your silly game:
1. I don't know but I'm guessing he has a big red white and blue tall hat and appears on old posters that say "Uncle Sam Wants You!"
2. A hawser is a big rope or steel cable they tie ships down with. No ships in Michigan? Alternatively it's a new Yorker, trying to say "Hoser."
3. All guys have hairy thighs unless they wax. You're not saying America waxes his body hair off are ya? Cuz that would be...un-American.
Thanks for reading and giving me a hard time, Galen. Somebody has to give my husband a break from time to time.
Hedgewitch...?
ReplyDeleteSilly Game?
You would have absolutely have NO patience with anybody under 10 N'est ce pas?
I need to E-Mail your husband!!
Quite the dream.
ReplyDeleteRE: Didn't we spray for Lilliputians? Did you see the 30 Rock episode with Matthew Broderick aka Cooter Burger? Jack has to give up his dream of becoming GE CEO and goes to work for the government. There he finds an alternate reality:
ReplyDeleteJack Donaghy: The ceiling appears to be leaking.
Cooter Burger: No, it's not. We've looked into it and it's not.
You are side splitting funny Joy!
You have interesting dreams! Great 55.
ReplyDeleteI'm up here.
Hmmm, WhaT a DreaM! Yup, it would seem you are as angst-filled as I am about election 2012. I probably won't be so lucky as to work some of it out in night drama. If Perry ever became President I would simply have a heart attack!
ReplyDeleteLoved your 55. Could be very meaningful to certain campaigns.
So ... is that Uncle Sam held down by all those puny epithet-hurling candidates? If it's also / or Perry (dreams are so duplicitous), I'd say Texas draught achieveth what no Democrat has the marbles to achieve. Not even a Giant can quell a burning land. Oddly, I had one of my first dreams in a month the other night, meeting up with a monkish Peter Gabriel in some vast urban underworld where he shared with me everything he had created. Giving it all away, or something. A friendly, fatal gesture. - Brendan
ReplyDeletePoor guy-they do say it is the small things that get to us! Fun piece, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks all--sorry not to be by to check out 55's yet--but I will be later today after chores.
ReplyDelete@B: Dreams are always ambiguous--no telling really who or what Giant is being tormented and defeated--in my poster, which I saw so vividly, the color was sepia, and it wasn't thighs that were pierced, so it could also be Obama. I like your Peter Gabriel dream--the eagle that flies from Solsbury Hill telling him to pack his bags, he's come to take him home? Lots of material in there.
@Anna: I love 30 Rock--and wish I could see more of it, but I'm not allowed much tv by the arbiter of television who controls the remote. (But I have my games.) That is a classic framing you just relayed and hilarious. Glad you enjoyed the subtext of the tags--they are my favorite part sometimes.
The subconscious works in mysterious ways... I love the language you use to describe the giant - although it's a picture to be copied, his pain is keenly felt, which adds to the irony.
ReplyDeleteThe title along with the picture had me laughing before I even started reading. This is damn funny writing. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how some dreams are so clear and precise and stick around and have such an effect? I hope this a dream that's not going to come true...
ReplyDeleteYou have fascinating dreams!
ReplyDeleteIt's the little unimportant things that can bring a big man down. Nice 55.
ReplyDeleteMy gosh.. what an awesome analogy you've drawn here, Joy!! The analogy is awesome, by the subject mater, *sigh* , scary.. isn't it?!
ReplyDeleteHave always enjoyed and will continue to adore your wordplay, lady!!!
xoxo
Good lord! What did you eat for supper? LOL
ReplyDeleteI was always amazed at how easily overcome the giant seemed to be!
ReplyDeleteLoved the creative twist!
Absolutely adore dreams where metaphors burrow deep.
ReplyDeletekeep dreaming.
ReplyDeleteWere any of 'em gnawing on a stick of butter? ha! Fab 55. I'm a bit jealous, I've not remembered my dreams that much lately....yours are wonderful!
ReplyDelete