English: Tent of Circus Herman Renz Nederlands: De tent van Circus Herman Renz (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have always been fascinated by the power of dreams. Many of my short stories deal with the idea that the dream takes on very realistic attributes. Sometime we are not sure if it was real or not. This little poem attempts to capture the feeling. I hope you like it.
The Dream Conundrum by John W. Howell ©2013
You wake up and are sure it was real,
A forgotten paper that was due in Psychology.
As hard as you try there is no way to explain,
It is fifty percent of the grade for the term.
You feel panic as the realization hits,
There is no way to recover this error.
A story is made up to explain,
That the paper was mailed and must be late.
Situations in dreams make a lot of sense,
In real life, dream logic folds like a circus tent.
The professor accepts the mailed in story,
But then asks for a copy of that cursed report.
More stories are told of dire circumstances,
Crashed hard drives, dog ingestion and such.
The last straw is looking for the professor,
To return the keys to his car that you took.
Thank heavens you finally wake up,
To realize it was all a frantic dream.
You hope the professor has a spare set of keys,
Since he made you throw your set away.
Have a great weekend
Fiction Favorites 
Dear John,
I’m totally fascinated by dreams myself and I’m most impressed with you creative way of dealing with the nightly theater! Very inspiring indeed! Have a great weekend.
Love from Norway
Dina
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Thank you so much. Have a nice weekend as well.
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One of my favorite things that deals with writing is being able to play with the lines that blur reality and non-reality. I think I could draw a lot more inspiration from my dreams if I would write them down while I remember them. But, inevitably, they are gone within moments of me waking, unless they were REALLY profound.
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So true. Thanks for sharing
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The thin line of dreams and reality.. Sometimes I wonder, which side is better..
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Well in some of my stories the dreams have the upper hand
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Mine too 🙂
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What is it with dreams and school? So often, I have those dreams of realizing I missed an important class and won’t graduate college because of it.
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…and I forgot to mention that I’ve been out of school for 15 years.
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Try 50
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Still haunt me (obviously)
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So true, dreams are a whole world to themselves…but here you have very well described their essential oddity!! 🙂 🙂
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Thank you. I am always a little nervous when I deviate from prose. I am a beginner and never sure if it works
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It worked really well!! 🙂 🙂
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You captured the essence of dreams, John. The ones that really haunt me are where I suddenly realize I have to give a presentation but I can’t find the room or even the right building. I’m late, I’m not dressed appropriately or I don’t have any notes or all of the above. My husband and I call them “angst” dreams 🙂 My favorite line from your poem: “In real life, dream logic folds like a circus tent.” I love that image! Well done!
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Thank you. The circus scares the hell out of me so there is a bit of entendre in that line.
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I dream a lot. In black and white…in color…sometimes even in sepia. I wonder if that means anything? lol This poem told a great story!
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Only that you are multi colored
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I like that! 🙂
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