Shane McCrae

In a Shared Dream Who Acts

America I woke     to you at the moment

You fell asleep I write to you from the dream

I dream now even as I work and do

Not work     and eat and do not eat     and am

Alone and not alone     even in dreaming

The dream     America America

Is dreaming you     I write to you from the dream

I woke to you     and rolled     from the bed and left

The room and closed the door and went downstairs

And even though the door     was closed Amer-

ica I made my breakfast quietly

And winced each time the spoon     sounded against

The bowl     it sounded like     a bell stopped short

It sounded like whose hand was pressed against it

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Shane McCrae’s most recent books are In the Language of My Captor (Wesleyan University Press, 2017) and The Animal Too Big to Kill (Persea Books, 2015). He has received a Whiting Writer’s Award, a fellowship from the NEA, and a Pushcart Prize. He teaches at Columbia University.