Hot on the heels of MLK, Jr.’s Birthday, it is only fitting that we think about dreams. His was a vision across America. Mine are usually fitful sensations of being swallowed whole by slithering sea sloths or chased on a rocking horse by a giant spider. Actually, this is not true, ever since I installed my dream catcher, a handy device purchased at a local street fair roughly two years ago.

I am seeing more and more of these dream catchers lately although those who have them do not seem to understand their purpose, which is to filter out nightmares so you can sleep solid and sound. They are woven mesh things in the shape of a circle, usually with feathers and suede fringes hanging off the bottom. But people are hanging the dream catchers on their front doors or from their car’s rearview mirrors and, unless they sleep hunched in the foyer with their head propped against the entrance or tend to slumber at the wheel (which I am wont to think a great many do) I do not see how these devices can be fully effective.

I also got a dream dictionary not too long ago. It is not very comprehensive, mind you, but about what you would expect from the $4.99 spontaneous purchase bin near the register at the Court Street Barnes & Noble. Very general entries dapple the book. For instance, the other day I had a dream about being kissed by a slobby man with greasy hair that I had never seen before in my life (talk about nightmares).

I look up "kiss" only to find a general entry on "kite." (Who the heck dreams about kites -- except maybe Charlie Brown?) There are no entries for either "greasy" or "slob" although we do get some explanations on "gun" and "shark." There is an entry for "hair" which tells me that it is a symbol of power (think Samson). It seems the dream dictionary people were also thinking Samson so the entire entry is about how folklorists believe balding is bad luck and losing your hair is equivalent to a lack of vitality or power. Interesting but not helpful in this case. Not a word about hair that needs a wash and trim.

A search for "stranger" yields no results although I do find an entry for "intruder." It seems to fit the bill the closest, telling me that I may be feeling violated or trespassed upon by someone I know. It goes on to explain that some unconscious desire or repressed feeling is forcing itself upon my consciousness.

Wow -- that makes sense. Lately I do feel somewhat abused by an acquaintance. As for the second half of the explanation, which states that a repressed thought or feeling is forcing itself upon me, I have to wonder -- isn’t that what dreams are for? Isn’t that the case with ALL dreams?

The dream dictionary, at least in this case, seems to be functioning like the horrorscipes (sic) which are usually vague enough to apply to anyone or anything, even your dog. In fact, my horrorscope yesterday read something like "something will have the potential to annoy you today." Since when is that not the case? Notice it doesn’t definitively say that this mysterious "something" will succeed in annoying me, which would be a fact I could argue. But it simply states that something has high annoyance potential....

And dreams are rife with high interpretation potential. We need no further evidence of that; it’s been done for ages by prophets to Freud to my Godmother Germaine. But do not forget the simple charm of dreams and your capacity to enjoy them. In fact, one of my fondest experiences was the dream during which I realized I was dreaming and willed myself to fly over the city, sort of like Superman but without the itchy tights.