Friday, September 19, 2014

Dreamlands

In a chimerical maelstrom
two children
a baby boy and a toddler girl
pawns in a power play
between strange foreign adults
and their putative mother

Motel rooms flash by
wet towel heaps and
scattered toy deserts
Crammed elevators
Menacing conversations
ambiguous menace
Papers inscribed by
malignant forces and a
helpless parent

The boy disappears
if he ever really was
and the girl is mourned
her destiny putative and
vaguely dangerous
as the mother tries to
move forward
weeping over the
vagaries of ending

when

the girl bursts through
the door of a cold fireplace
mummified and mute but
squirming towards freedom
inching slowly and furiously out
of the cocoon of disregard and
powerlessness and
abandonment
to fly to the
arms of the one who
sadly missed her,
welcomed and
fiercely cherished
all the more
for having been
thought lost.

3 comments:

  1. i like it. the poem is totally surreal (i also like surrealism in a painting), so it forces the reader to forget about reality for a bit. i'm wondering if this poem was inspired by an actual dream you had? good to see you posting new poems!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actual dream last night. It was very surreal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow, i'm totally impressed that you were able to remember your dream (i always forget mine), and write an awesome poem about it so soon! "squirming towards freedom..." my favorite line.

    ReplyDelete

Please share your thoughts!