FIONA D’SILVA

Barry’s Reef, Wombat State Forest, VIC / Poet

I am in self-isolation alone.

Fiona D’Silva is an emerging writer with published short stories and poetry. She lives in the forest near Blackwood, Victoria.

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In my dream in March this year I am visiting a family who are no longer my friends. In my dream they live in a cold forest which is very wet and muddy. There is a child-sized, yellow 4WD stuck in the mud up to its axels. The female adult says that they don’t need it any more because they have a brand new 4WD. It’s a really expensive, shiny 4WD. She says it will be good to escape from the forest as the yellow one is old and rusted. She says I can have the yellow one. I think how will I escape? I don’t have any money to fix the old yellow one. How will I protect my daughter, who is a toddler in the dream but actually 32 in reality? I tell her it will be fine. Then my landlord comes to my side wearing a crown made of brown felt. The mud from the forest is covering the floors of my rented house. I’m scared that he will evict me because of the mess. I think that we can sleep in the yellow 4WD. But I can’t find the key and I know my ex friends have it.

(30/3/2020)