If You Must Dream

by Natalia Prusinska

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Dedicate yourself like a man
who extracts venom 
from snakes, full well 
knowing he’s allergic 
to antivenom. If you must, 
heave your whole body
onto the back of the dream,
pinning it to the ground,
so you can stick a fresh
tracker on it and re-direct 
it to the water where it can be free 
to hunt for its life. It’s only after 
pursuing the dream 
that you’ll know how 
to dream the dream—to give it 
not just a head and two arms
and two legs, but organs 
and bacteria and trigger genes,
dimension and depth. If you must 
dream, then dream in infinite detail.

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Natalia Prusinska is a Polish-American, queer poet and author of the chapbook, Hard Jolts of Hope (2021). Her work has been featured in Storm Cellar, High Shelf Press, and elsewhere. She lives with her partner in Los Angeles.