SurVision Magazine

It Only Happens in My Dreams


The Hollywood Hills are full of cats. One, dark as a puddle,
follows you home, chews your fingertips till they bleed.
Offer him milk, cream, a splash of brandy. Wake in the night,
see him poised on claws as sure as pointe shoes,
his shadow on the ceiling, your dreams in his mouth.

Confess to the prophetic cowboys with their singing spurs,
ask them to write you a paranormal "to do" list.
They will take your hands in their buckskin palms,
counsel you in fuzzy, faraway voices.

The Hollywood Hills are full of pickpockets with no pasts,
their eyes flicker like headlights on a slattern sky, zombie
tongues lolling with lust for the contrail of your memories.
Run higher, higher still, to the sign that once said Hollywoodland,
swing like Douglas Fairbanks from the top of the Y.
Roll, roll down the dry, heaving sides of Mulholland Drive.
The Hollywood Hills are full of lies.





Sue Burge is a freelance creative writing and film studies tutor based in North Norfolk. Many of her poems have been anthologised and also appear in a wide range of magazines. Her debut pamphlet, Lumiere, and first collection, In the Kingdom of Shadows, were published in 2018.