by Marc Olmsted
Dream: girlfriend Suzi & I have pulled over from the freeway, only to find William Burroughs also pulled over in a van with big windows eyeing a McDonalds with some frustration (like – he has to go there?) – somehow we know the future and that he’ll pick a middle-grade coffee shop more tolerable – Suzi worries about Burroughs going to the toilet but we she he is actually sitting as if on a portatoilet, so no problem there – I get out and wave – now his van is a large polished steel booth [again] with big windows like a gas station waiting for a sign, paint job, gas pump – Burroughs’ face lights up, waves back, delighted to see me, I’m amazed he remembers, walk towards the booth –
– Pema Dechen comes out of the booth, old girlfriend Buddhist student & consort of my teacher [Tharchin Rinpoche (who did consciousness transference phowa for Bill)] – she is apparently also Burroughs’ assistant now – “By my stars and the guns of Keith” she says in a Burroughs voice – it’s his directly quoted greeting – Keith being Keith Haring deceased graffiti artist – “You’re quite the dakini’s emissary” I say (though meant to say dakini emissary for what it’s worth – emissary of Burroughs rather than emissary of female wisdom Buddha). She describes how Bill’s met w/ the producers of Sogyal Rinpoche’s book tape Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (apparently this shows his real interest and conversion) and how he regrets lama friend Trungpa is long dead and “can’t even spend 2 weeks with me” in the Bardo – so Burroughs is dead after all – we’re all sad for a moment – & empathy for a teacher maybe deceased & unavailable when we will be dead.
“Do you want an appointment?” With Burroughs, she means. I decline. Why bother him?
I look at Pema Dechen who suddenly resembles a 19-year-old blonde model with a smear of red lipstick like she may have just been French kissing – must be the light, I think & wake.
9/13/97
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