Who Says So in Dreams?

Now class, this will be on your final exam...
Ms. Riffo drones on and on
about all the material we need to know
but that we don't care about.
The air conditioning is broken
and it's the middle of May
in the deep south.
The classroom is an unbearable 90 degrees
Fahrenheit
and my shirt sticks to me
plastered by my sweat.
Gross.
It's the last hour of the day
90 degrees Fahrenheit
I don't want to be here
so I'm not.
Ms. Riffo's voice is now
a faint buzzing noise in the
back of my mind.
I'm flying high above the school
and a cloud sweeps me off my feet
and I know clouds aren't solid
but who says so in dreams?
Sweet, cool and refreshing air
blows in my face
freeing me of my stickiness.
Parrots and penguins
fly beside me
but they are silent
and I can only hear the
swoosh-swoosh, swoosh-swoosh
of their wings.
I know penguins can't fly
but who says so in dreams?
Butterflies as big as a door
land on my cloud.
Their wings are laced with
gold, silver
and pearls.
The color of their wings
are like red ink--
threatening to drip off their
fragile membranes.
I know that butterflies are not made
of ink, gold,
silver or
pearls,
but who says so in dreams?
I climb on a butterfly's back
and down we descend
towards a blue sea
leaving the parrots
penguins, and solid clouds
far behind.
I can taste the air on my tongue,
and the salty spray lands on my hair
forming a crown of crystals.
We land on the water
which is solid blue glass
that we cannot penetrate.
I know that there is no such thing
as tangible air, and crystal crowns
made of sea spray, or
an ocean that freezes to
blue glass.
But who says so in dreams?
The butterfly's wings shed
its jewels
and they go beneath the surface
where I cannot.
The butterfly is unraveling
and turns into air,
but the strands of air
are different colors
like a river of yarn.
This river of yarn
or a current of air
slides under me
so I am just gliding.
I know that air has no color
and that nobody can ride on a
current of yarn,
but who says so in dreams?
We reach the edge of the ocean,
where there is an edge
as if I've made it to the end of the world
where the earth drops off.
I say goodbye to my colorful air
and fall over the edge
into darkness.
I know that the world is round,
not flat,
and that there is not an end to the
earth,
but who says so in dreams?
This darkness is not like nighttime
but rather a daytime darkness
because as I'm falling endlessly
giant stars whiz around me lighting up the darkness
and every once in a while
I'll see a shooting star.
Just as soon as I had fallen
I stop in midair,
and a black hole tugs me into its
gravitational force.
It's hot and sweaty
and feels like 90 degrees
Fahrenheit
in that black hole.
There's also an awful lot of tapping
there too.
Opening my eyes, I see a ruler
tapping on my desk,
and Ms. Riffo and her bug eyes
are staring me down.
"You can't have been dreaming"
she says
because "nothing is more important than this test"
but I know better
because I say so in dreams.