Souvenirs From Dreams

source

She believed

She believed with all the faith

her tender five year-old soul could hold

More than she believed in God

More than Heaven

More than even her own name

She believed

that dreaming and waking

were just different rooms

in the same house

She believed

boundaries were permeable

She could travel thresholds

of unconscious to conscious

like she traversed bedroom to kitchen

and back

She believed

if she really tried

she could return from her dreams

with some souvenir

like when she returned to her room

with a cookie from the cupboard

She believed this so strongly

that each night she would try to grasp some trinket

from dreaming

and wake with it in her hand

But each morning she awoke 

empty handed

her dream object faint and 

fading into the evasive penumbra of night

a  beautiful shell she tried to snatch from the ocean

just as a huge wave washed her under

She would finally stand

gripping nothing

but sand.

(finally) submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Get Listed w/ Hedgewitch, Mind and Symbol

Staunch

I tell you if there's anything worse than dealing with a staunch woman... S-T-A-U-N-C-H. There's nothing worse, I'm telling you. They don't weaken, no matter what. ”

― Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale

Sticky Sweet Summer Memories

Starcraft pop-up towed behind faux wood paneled station wagon
Marshmallows burning to sticky sweet perfection
Odor of pine needles and earth
Rain pelting canvas, resonant and mellow
Eating bologna and cheese sandwiches while waiting for fish to bite
Summer smells of sweat, Coppertone, and bug spray

Not ours but quite similar! Source

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Camped Out In the Garden

Dark Pleasure

Dark Pleasure by Vandy Massey

I had forgotten what real was

until you reminded me

The taste was new, yet familiar

like a dream almost remembered

Each kiss,

redolent of sweet wine,

inky, dark and dangerous

Scarlet stains 

sticky on my lips

Burgundy bruises to remind me

Leaving me sated

and craving more.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Sunday's Featured Artist,Vandy Massey

Are You Dreaming?

 Are you dreaming of me?

When you close your eyes,

do you see another time?

 When I lie awake at night, I wonder

Are you dreaming of me?

Do I keep you awake too?

Do you toss in listless non-slumber

on those nights I dream

of you?

Would one last kiss goodbye

Here or there

finally let me sleep

soundly?

 
59 words, submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Words Count w/Mama Zen, An Interview With Nathan Brown

Life

The butterfly is never born with wings

She starts upon the earth and only crawls

But to that form she knows she cannot cling

For holding on means transformation stalls

The courage to allow yourself to fall

So freely that you fear that you may die

Becomes the very thing that lets you fly.

Another Rhyme Royal for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, FB Fridy, Rhyme Royal and BT Benda

She Rides

She heard the hoof beats and she thought of stripes

Imagination conjured up the rare

For all her life she was one of those types

Accomplished what the others did not dare

So with proud peacock flumes tucked in her hair

She rides a zebra through the azure night

She knows that life is more than black and white.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, FB Fridays, Rhyme Royal and WT Benda

The Poet

Poet's Sleep, 1989, by Chang Houg Ahn

The poet is no alchemist

He cannot find the Philosopher's Stone

that will transform pedestrian words

into gold

The remains of his earlier efforts

lay scattered in the weeds

The poet chokes

on the dust of bones

The poet sleeps

He dreams of blood coursing through stones

Alive and

eternal.

submitted for The Mag, Mag208