Martha Chisholm: I dreamed I lived in Daly City where I was born

I dreamed I lived in Daly City where I was born
I always go back to that old house my father built
I go back there in dreams, I go back
to find all my mother’s things but I can’t find them
I always dream about my father
making wine in the basement: a barrel exploded
and he came up the stairs dripping wine,
wine dripping from hi hair, from his mustache
Wine all over the place And he’d say, “Martha,
you gonna live in this house when I’m gone?”
And I said, “No, I’m not, because of the fog.”
And he’d always get so sad
That fog wasn’t bad, it was a healthy fog,
great for the skin. But I couldn’t live in it.

—Martha Chisholm