Silkworm Dreams

Normally silkworms are indolent, moving just enough to find a little more food, however, before they spin their cocoon they start to wander quite persistently.

I noticed this last night


a white glimmering object on the floor of the airing cupboard, its outline diffuse with bur. An unnoticed escapee had somehow dropped the floor and then begun to spin. I am letting it stay there until it is properly finished.

Even though I am fond of my silkworms I don't like the thought of them escaping. I imagine them crawling swiftly to my pillow in the night, like that mouse that once brushed my head when a child. Then I'd woke dreaming of lying at the bottom of a well, drops of water falling rhythmically onto my face - where, it turned out, the mouse was touching me as it ran around in circles on my pillow.

But what dreams could be induced by a silkworm? Maybe the sensation of floating in a cocoon-like womb, or maybe something more sinister and enclosed, like being buried alive and struggling for breath. Or maybe it would be something in my hair, the touch of the wind, or the dry cold stickiness of the caterpillar's feet, as it tangles like a teazle, then rips apart, tiny hooks and loops...