Greeting the Willow Tree

November 9th 2010 7:15 AM EST

I am on a bicycle/moped now at the bottom of Queen City Ave. and Beekman, near the BP and the old factory that is no longer in use. It seems there is also a used car place here. I see Joe Hill, the janitor from the library, and the see the mean maintenance man from the library whom I don't like, and want to avoid him. I don't want him to know I am here, so I drive up a nearby street that goes up a steep hill.

As I do so I find I am on a road that has wild prairie fields on either side. At the very end of the road a willow tree is planted and it is flowering. I get off my bike and go up to it. At this point I realize I have a little dog with me, a chihuahua, sitting in a quart sized plastic kitchen containter that is strapped down in the back of the bike. I let him out with me, and go under the canopy of the willow tree. I am very excited. I know it is very old and and planted here specially. I see that I am in a park, but judging from the signs it is under repair. The visitors center is also closed. There is a sacred mystical feel to the tree and it has a red flower.

Coming out from under its branches it is full on night now, where before when I was riding up the hill through the fields the sky was painted in gorgeous bursts of red as the sun set. I look to the right and see a very old house, wooden, and also painted red. The place has been abandoned for awhile. The windows are boarded up, and some of the wood is falling apart. It is dilapidated. Nevertheless I think that if I was brave enough I would bring a group of friends with me to break in and explore the building. It has a classic haunted feel.

then I turn and see a group of robed teenagers coming up the hill. They are here either to play a live action role playing game or to engage in a neo-pagan ritual. Whereas neither of those things bother me, I still get a creepy vibe off of them. I'm afraid of them and want to get out of there. I scramble around looking for the dog, trying to put it back in the bucket, and then put ut the bucket back on the bike. But I'm having a hard time.The kids are closer now, but I don't feel as threatened. Though there is still something quite ominous about them.

Feelings: A sense of mystery, awe, deeper reality reaching out to me. I also felt a story I've been incubating as I work on other material calling out to me for attention.

Reality: I don't think this particular park exists. Although there is another park in the Fairmount that overlooks the city it doesn't have a visitors center or fields surrounding it. I don't know if there is a willow tree there. Otherwise the place has the feel of the "alternate Cincinnati".

Actions: Look up mythology surrounding the Willow Tree. Perhaps write aspects of this dream into the story when it comes time.

Motto: The mysteries of the trees are open to me.

photo by Alan Burnstein.