POETRY | ESSAY | THE BRAIN IS A NOODLE

Unbound

A poetic response

Sweet daydreamer don’t let time tie you down let your mind flow like a river to the sea Be mindful only when gaps strike a note and reverberate drawing you back to the Now but dwell not on past things nor futures you cannot see just sail outside time-space and Be, unbound

©2021 Lori Carlson. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve always been a daydreamer and when I was young and in school, I remember my teachers trying to whack that behavior out of me. I recall one teacher standing in front of my desk and actually slapping a ruler down on it to snap me out of a daydream. And after a while, I allowed it. I forced myself to stay focused and not let my mind roam free, and as a result, I believe I stifled some of my own creativity. In the past few months, I’ve begun daydreaming again and I fell back into that learned behavior that daydreaming was somehow bad and I needed to force myself to focus more. It was even a topic I brought up with my therapist.

Now, I question that learned behavior. When my mind is roaming free, I tap into some amazing creative sources. My writing flows better. My thoughts aren’t as scattered. And I feel unbound by time and space. Even my senses are more acutely aware, allowing me to experience more and more ‘gap moments’ that draws me back to the present moment to experience peace and joy.

I made a decision to no longer be tied down to time, at least not the way I was taught. If I have appointments to keep, of course, I need to schedule them and keep them. But any other moments of my life, I leave outside of the time and space construct. I sleep when my body tells me it needs sleep. I eat when my body needs sustenance. I write when the words begin to flow. And if my mind wants to roam free, I am letting it do just that.

There are two songs that helped me with my daydreaming as a child and they allow me to float away even now — Time by Alan Parsons Project and Sailing by Christopher Cross. And I will now share them both with all of you.

This rambling mess is in response to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s poetry prompt — What is your relationship with time?

Lori Carlson writes Poetry, Fiction, Articles, Creative Non-Fiction, and Personal Essays. Most of her topics are centered around Relationships, Spirituality, Life Lessons, Mental Health, Nature, Loss, Death, and the LGBTQ+ community. She is the Owner/Editor of Promptly Written and Not For Bedtime Stories. Check out her personal Medium blog here.