My Better World

author's note:

“We experience a dream as real because it is real.”
              -- Dr. William C. Dement


MY BETTER WORLD

The excited uncertainty
of crossing a stone bridge in dark fog

ended
before I'd reached the end--ended
with the alarm of morning

and as I began my usual routine
the intensity faded
and I forgot the dream

until that afternoon:

while waiting to cross a city street
I suddenly recalled the night bridge
hidden and revealed and hidden
by the tease of shifting clouds

and as the feeling returned
my day world of blatant sunlight
became as real as that dream:

the traffic light warning me...
the bleached grey fence...
a vacant lot overgrown with weeds--
all seemed strangely alive

and I felt myself to be
an alien spirit
discovering a wonderland

then the light changed
and as my attention shifted
that sense of intensity faded:

once again I was
a lowly armadillo
grubbing along the asphalt.

However
that feeling of living
in a grander world
is not lost, only asleep

and sometimes
stirs from slumber
to end my daydream.

I then remember
I am more than a mere
creature of survival.

© 2018, Michael R. Patton
what I learned while alone: poetry ebook

Unique Broadcast Frequency

author's note:

Not only is the Universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
        -- Sir Arthur Eddington


UNIQUE BROADCAST FREQUENCY

If I hold very still
when I'm in
that gray place between
waking and sleep...

in the extended silence
my inner ear may detect
a word or phrase
from a voice--
unknown
yet somehow familiar.

Maybe it’s merely the “me”
within me...

but how do you explain those times
when we meet someone
   who seems familiar
   though a still a stranger
and the words just flow
as if we're continuing a conversation--
maybe one begun long ago...?

Based on such experience
I postulate:
at night, as the conscious mind rests
we transmit messages--
often across vast distances.

I realize I'm not being
very scientific
but
I believe it's best to believe
that every individual in our world
owns a unique broadcast frequency--

in this way, at least
we the people have equality.

© 2018, Michael R. Patton
listening to silence: poetry ebook

Another World

author’s note:

Recently, someone asked me how I find contentment...

Not something I usually think about...but I do know that I can find it by discovering beauty in the commonplace.


ANOTHER WORLD

Sometimes I sense the presence
of another world

lurking like a monolith
--like a dark castle gate--
somewhere over my left shoulder

but when I turn to witness
I find only a blank space

nonetheless,
I can feel the absence
and so, that world
still seems real to me:

I'm tantalized--
for years I've searched
for the pass key:

so much work and yet
I remain frustrated...

except in odd quiet moments
that come to me suddenly--

in that stillness, this mundane world
is seen again, felt again, heard again

known again
but known differently--
known as strange:

even the stones seem to brim with life

or especially the stones

even old familiar doors
hold mystery

or especially those doors.

At such times,
whatever object I experience
becomes a door slowly opening:

I discover secrets everywhere.

After such times, I wonder:
did I step through the mirror?--
did I pass through the gate?

© 2015, Michael R. Patton
dream steps: the blog