Dream Words

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Monday Morning Musings:

Dream Words

“In the land
of words,
I stand as still
as a tree,
and let the words
rain down on me.”
–Eloise Greenfield, “In the Land of Words”

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,”
—Walt Whitman from #31 From “Song of Myself”

Early Morning Moon

My dream poem begins
Between a sonnet and an ode,
I can’t remember the rest,
it’s vanished in the universe of my mind,
a star to black hole or a comet to return with a blazing tail—
but me without the telescope to see within

this galaxy of thoughts,
my past, the fragments hurled through time,
and filtered through the space debris of memory.

I’m left trying to determine what I meant,
a borderland of form and matter,
formal structure and rhymed connections,
an abab skip to u–
the meter set by moon rise
and the rhythm by dawn choir.

I could sing the praises
of a leaf of grass, the beauty of the vulture’s glide,

the river tides, or
the scent of spring rain rising

Cloudy morning at low tide, Delaware River at Red Bank Battlefield

the volta of each season, expressed
in a grand reveal, or a subtle exposition

Peonies in bloom, Whitall House

unexpected,
yet familiar, everything

may change in a flash
light to darkness to light—
while we dream,
whether we remember . . . or not.

Sometimes I watch him dream

Movies, Books, This and That:

Good morning! A couple of nights ago, I dreamt an entire poem, and “Between a sonnet and an ode” was really the beginning.

April was quite a month of poetry, wasn’t it? Even though we still seem to alternate warm and cold days, the flowers say it’s now May, as do the goslings, and rabbits.

We fortified ourselves with bruschetta and roasted asparagus from a local farm stand to begin watching the final episodes of Ozark (Season 4, part 2). We watched two episodes—it’s intense, but no spoilers!

We had Chinese food and watched a Chinese movie (of course). 😏 Here is one that most likely few of my readers have seen, Gone with the Light. You’re welcome. The plot will sound familiar—there’s a flash of light and some people all over the world vanish. Trust me, that the movie becomes something quite different, a meditation on love. I enjoyed it very much.

I’m reading A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe.
I just couldn’t quite finish it last night, but I’m really enjoying this novel of a woman who feels trapped in her life as a housewife in 1950s NYC after working as a translator at the newly created UN. One day she agrees to become an FBI informant, also becoming involved in Cold War spying—and feeling more alive than she’s felt in a long time.

56 thoughts on “Dream Words”

  1. A wonderful Monday Meander, Merril! I love that you dreamed you were writing a poem (hmmm not related to NaPoWriMo, eh?)
    Lovely images, too.
    And get ready to be bombarded… I shall, after my breakfast date that finally arrived, be catching up!

    • Thank you so much, Dale.
      No, I don’t think it was really related to NaPoWriMo. I’ve dreamt of writing poems before, but this time, I had the finished poem, and I could see the page with the words.
      I hope you enjoyed your breakfast date. In advance, I’ll say that I appreciate “the bombardment.” 😊

      • I was teasing 😉
        It lasted for almost three hours! We had over two years of catching up to do – so it was lovely 🙂
        And perfect… 😉

      • Oh, that sounds so lovely! What a wonderful get-together. Daughter is visiting a friend she hasn’t seen in a while, and she just sent me a brunch photo. 😀

      • It was.
        And nice for your daughter and friend. 🙂
        Last evening I had supper with a friend from high school. We’ve known each other since Grade 9! (1978). We can go years without seeing each other and then he calls and we go for supper and it’s like we take up where we left off. And now, I have to cherish each visit more than ever. So hard.

  3. Hi Merril,
    How are you? I hope you are well. It was good to see you pop up in my reader. I really enjoyed those quotes about words. I love words and language.
    I was interested to read about A Woman of Intelligence by Karin Tanabe. I’ve recently finished reading Mark Lamprell’s “The Secret Wife” set in Sydney in the 1960’s. It’s beautifully written and it addresses issues of work and family through the lens of two female friends. It prompted me to look up an article I’d read about a dinner for Australian Women At The Top held in 1961 in Sydney and my grandmother was a guest. I’ve done a bit of chasing up and I thought you might be interested: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2022/05/02/australias-women-at-the-top-1961/
    Best wishes,
    Rowena

      • The last couple of years have flown. My son is now 18, daughter 16. They have grown up on the pages of my blog. I am keeping well and we’ve managed to avoid covid, which is a relief. How have you been?

      • Oh my! I can’t believe your kids are that old! Mine are in their 30s now. I’m so glad you’re all well. You may have seen that my mom died in the first wave of Covid. We weren’t allowed to be with her. My first poetry book, River Ghosts, has just been published by Nightingale & Sparrow Press, and it’s dedicated to her. Our older child designed the cover art.

      • I’m so sorry to hear about your Mom, Merril, especially through covid. Covid didn’t hit Australia as hard and I don’t know anyone who has passed away from it here, However, our daughter’s dance teacher’s brother in his earrly 50’s died from it. It was awful, and they couldn’t attend the funeral. Must’ve been awful not being able to be with your Mum. I haven’t seen my parents for almost a year. They’ve been protective of me, but with our kids out and about, we’re needing to be careful of them. At least, we can talk on the phone and we’ve also had the odd zoom.
        Congratulations on getting your first poetry book done and your eldest doing the cover. That’s great. I’m working on putting together my 100 word flash fiction efforts. I’ve also been writing a series of bios of WWI soldiers but I needed a break and trying to et l back on track after the last two years has been an effort. So, it’s been on the backburner, but am hoping to get back to it soon.

  6. Beautiful. This reminds me of the times I wake up with a poem in my mind and . . . . That book does sound good. I have so many stacked up already, though, yours included!!!!!

  7. Dreaming a poem sounds delightful! That’s never happened to me before. I love the “Early Morning Moon” image! I started reading River Ghosts last night. So far, I’m loving each and every one of them.

  9. Beautiful as always, Merril. (Do I say that, always? I will try to be more original, but I do mean it.) I dream of writing, too. I rarely remember any of it. I had a look at the trailer for the movie. It looks really interesting. Netflix doesn’t have it. I’m going to check the library.

    • Thank you so much, Robin. I know it gets difficult to be original sometimes when commenting. But I do appreciate your kind words. 😊
      I forgot you can’t stream. It was free on Amazon Prime, but perhaps your library does have it.

      • Unfortunately, no to the library (it was a long shot). I put it on my ever growing list of films to see that might end up on DVD someday (so that we can rent it from Netflix). They are putting in fiber optic cable around here and we might have access to real internet coverage someday (looks like it’s going to take a few years).

  11. I too love the idea of dreaming a poem. Sometimes they seem to come from somewhere else, even though I’m awake. Perhaps a dream, reawakened.

    And yes, the flowers have decided it’s spring. (K)

  13. I’ve dreamed whole stories at night and wake up loving it, until – WHOOSH – it’s gone. But to dream a poem? That’s an amazing feat, and at least you remembered the first line. 🙂 To the universe in our mind, awake and asleep.

  14. really loved the poem, Merril – you captured exactly how I often feel on waking – the dream dissipates too quickly for us to remember….

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