April Through September Haiku Dream
Ooops. Looks like Steve's Words have been silent the last few months. My sincerest apologies to all four loyal readers. In leiu of the long hiatus, today's segment is going to be extra groovy.
Place a forefinger and thumb on your arm and pinch. You are not dreaming. I am. That's right. What you are reading is a dream I had. I woke up in the middle of the night and here I sit. That last sentence was in my dream and so was this one.
This is not the first time I realized I was dreaming, manipulated its events, and woke myself up. Kind of spooky, huh?
 
My Dream
I'm sitting on a map of the world. The map could be as much as 40 feet from top to bottom. I'm holding an eyedropper in my left hand. I know it's in my left hand because I'd rather have the dropper in my right hand. Feels awkward. I feel like I am dreaming. Why can't I put the eyedropper in my right hand? Ahhh....because my right hand is holding an old magnifying glass. It's very heavy.
I feel very important. What I am doing will have a big impact on Earth. This much is obvious. I'm just not sure what to do with the eyedropper. Then I remember.
The eyeglass doesn't seem so old now. It's not even heavy. Hey, I really think I'm dreaming. Let's take a look at the map. I'm hovering above it somehow now. My stomach feels weird. Not bad. Just weird. I position the cheap plastic hand glass over some country. Looks like Italy. No, it's not Italy, it's at the top of the continent. Wait, I'm facing South. It is Italy. Let's have a good look at Italy.
I peer through the glass and see a dry field. There is a fire. Is there water in the eyedropper? It's a clear liquid. No smell. I put a drop on my right forearm. I don't feel anything. Positive this is a dream I decide to use the eyedropper to drench the burning field. It works! One drop does the trick.
I feel a little nauseous and decide to wake up. I can't wake up. I can't move my right hand. I notice another fire, this time without gazing through the hand glass. I'm using the glass to burn a hole in the map. The sun is shining brightly. It hurts my eyes to look up. The eyedropper is gone. The fire's circumference is growing slowly. It's about a 4 inch high hole. I feel terrible about that.
Hoping this really is a fun dream turned into a nightmare, I jump through the hole. I have a quick thought: Alice in Wonderland isn't a book, it is a dream. I think that's funny and laugh. I'm standing on a white floor. There's nothing but whiteness to all sides except overhead. I can see the bottom side of the map and watch it burn. There are ashes falling down, but they don't reach the white floor. I think some of the ashes look like people, then laugh at that idea. There is a fairly good sized hole in the map now. Through it I see writing on a white screen. This looks familiar. Something flashing near the bottom...after the last word. It is a cursor...blinking...blinking. A computer screen. I get the feeling that I should understand something. I start to read the words.
 
Waking up slowly
Bumping into dark walls
Open tired eyes
 

I'm holding something else in my right hand now. It's a computer mouse. I'm sitting in a chair. I can move the mouse and I see a mouse pointer on the screen. There's a scrollbar. I don't think I'm dreaming anymore, this feels real. I scroll up and take a look at the first words on the screen:

 
April Through September Haiku Dream
 
I woke up sitting in bed looking up at my ceiling fan. I got out of bed, careful not to wake Jen and walked down the hall to my computer. It was on. What you are reading was on the screen. Even this sentence. I pinched myself. That was stupid, it hurt.