Dreamscape

Beneath a tilted blue skewed sky A breeze blows soft molasses slow Its edges weighted down by dawn Like sparkling gems in web caught morn

Kaleidoscoping colors soar Collide, cavort, create unseen The sense to follow er to flow A rhapsody of soundless song

To go wherever driven wants To change the lucid landscape’s scope To shift the sands, hold back the tide Or turn to winter’s crisp breath’s frost

To fly if will says but to fly Escape the monsters, man and foe Correct a wrong for justice scorned Revenge a hateful act born out

Rewrite a conversation lost In victory gain the upper hand And so a life predict, control Command the day triumphant bliss

Then turn to fun in childish glee For nothing must be left behind Amusement parks and candy corn A knight’s true quest, a Princess won

Til eyelids threaten lift withdraw Last moment’s magic grasping tight But all too soon this world we lose And thrust toward woken life, we mourn

This poem was written in response to a prompt for a call for submissions by mslexia magazine, one I hadn’t previously heard of before. The prompt was relatively general, just to write a poem about alternate worlds. Specifically, the prompts read, that other worlds could be defined as “the mysterious space/time realms of the scientifically plausible: the ‘dust’ of Phillip Pullman’s Dark Materials, the time-travelling TARDIS, the alternate realities of Schrödinger’s cat. . . “

As I usually do, I tried to think up different ways of looking at the prompt. Since the most common idea of what an alternate world is relates to other planets or something else removed from here, I decided to write about an alternate world that existed here in this world. I also wanted to find something would feel familiar to everyone. Dreaming came to mind. Initially, it wasn’t as interesting to me as I would have liked and only a few phrases came to mind. I left it overnight, thinking I’d either need to come up with a different idea today or not submit a poem for this particular contest.

My writing moods are such that when I struggle with something I am trying to write and I become frustrated, my ability to write is shot. Often the only way to get back on track is to try a different topic or type of writing. Sometimes if I don’t write for a while, I may be able to finish the piece once my mood is better and I’ve gotten some sleep. That was the case this time.

There is another strategy that has worked in the past to help me write poetry that I can’t make work despite having an idea I really want to develop. I have a fall back rhythm that I have written a lot of my poetry in. For whatever reason, that particular cadence and meter seems to open my mind and trigger my creativity. The right words just to follow.

If you are interested in perhaps taking part in this contest you can check the site for mslexia magazine under themed writing.

Anna Rozwadowska, Jun Wu, Jenny Justice, Sherry Kappel, Tracy Aston, Indira Reddy, Zev, Anna Breslin, Tien Skye, Ashwini Dodani, Steve Frank, Heath ዟ, Randy Shingler, Greg Prince, Oren Cohen, M J Christie, Susan Brearley, Sam H Arnold, Samantha Lazar, Owen Banner, Kathy Jacobs, Debbie Aruta, Rahul Misra, Bruce Brachna, Ambarish Chaudhari, Quintin van Heerden, Tanu Vohra, Shadi Mirza, Rhonda Marrone, Esther Spurrill-Jones, Kurt Gasbarra, Parijat Bhattacharjee, Mela Blust, Prateek Joshi, Kim Andersen, Aaska Aejaz, Dennett, Susan Brearley, Javier Gomez, Mathushah.S, Martine Weber, Gwen Saoirse, August Alondra, Molly Skeen, M J Christie

Natalie Frank (Taye Carrol) has had her poetry featured in several anthologies including Untimely Frost. Her fiction has been published in Haunted Waters Press, Weirdbook Magazine, Siren’s Call Publications, Lycan Valley Press and Zero Fiction among others. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Her collection of poetry, Disguised I Breathe, In Love I Hold, can be found on Amazon under her pen name, Taye Carrol.

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You can find links to all of the articles, stories, fiction and poetry I publish on Medium here. Thanks for reading!