Liminal Dreaming
This poem was written in November of 2021 for this project.
Liminal Dreaming is a poem based on a true story of my experience with hypnagogia, or the state of being between "dreaming" and "awake." I tried to tell the story of a person who is deeply lonely dreaming of an idyllic gathering of loved ones only to wake and forced to comfront their solitude.
There's a large emphasis on imagery to create that dreamlike atmosphere for the poem.
Themes:
- Dreams
- Loneliness
In a swarming,
balmy swirl of color
heady and vinous
I lay there wilting
like a melting pool
seeping into the sheets.
Voices, muffled yet
vivid like a jovial
crowd
at a warmly-lit
gathering
crowing with pleasant patter
surrounded by soft luster
a creamy golden glow
tender like honey
an air cushy and intimate
with a tang of
clementine and
sandalwood
the all-consuming sense of
serenity wafting wisping
the color amber
the taste of love
swaddled like an infant—
My eyes split open,
I shoot straight up
and whirl around to
find myself enshrouded
by the pitch-darkness
of my barren bedroom.
Cold and desolate,
I stare into the black
alone.
Their first sense of that
gathering, stressing the presence of others and the feeling of being surrounded by people.
These lines focus a lot on color — mostly yellows — to
really get across a feeling of warmth.
The whole dream
culiminates to what they desire most: to feel loved.
Finally awoken, the narrator is forced back into
reality.