Bob month
Dog Dream
In early spring of 1971 I was staying with Sam Shepard at the Chelsea Hotel. One rainy Sunday I awoke from a dream about Bob Dylan with remnants of a little poem lingering in my head. Sam was still sleeping so I got up and wrote it down. When he awoke Sam told me he had a long, complicated dream where he and Bob were racing through a Texas ghost town on motorcycles while being chased by a pack of wild dogs. Amazed that we had dreamed similar dreams I entitled my poem Dog Dream. Both Sam and I admired Dylan’s work, even calling the play we were writing together Cowboy Mouth, a phrase borrowed from Blonde on Blonde.
In 1975, Bob was looking for a writer to collaborate with for a film he was envisioning called Renaldo and Clara. Sam was an accomplished playwright and had written the script for the film Zabriskie Point for Michelangelo Antonioni, so I suggested him. Bob called him up, and after some discussion Sam took the job. Sam toured awhile with Rolling Thunder, cowriting the script and the song Brownsville Girl with Bob, then went his own way, true to his independent spirit. Below is a photograph taken by Ken Regan, only hours before the Rolling Thunder Review started rolling. When I look at the picture now, it makes me smile, seeing me and Sam with the fellow who once invaded our dreams, along with a few dogs, on a sultry morning at the Chelsea Hotel.
The dog yawned
and almost swallowed
My Dharma
—Jack Kerouac 😉
I really enjoy seeing things like this little notebook. Perhaps you could read the poem for us for the next audio message?