474 - Brainstorm - A Poem

During Emma Mcgann's song writing challenge I was inspired to write a mashup of all her 10 prompts into one poem. I'd taken notes and a few days later, started composing. 

The muses decided to redirect the narrative, to what became Brain Storm. 

The process took me roughly 9-10 hours, spread over 3 days - of, you guessed, a LOT of brain storming, trying a stream of consciousness tale in 6 stanzas, expanding to 7 in my first rhyming attempt, and after re-wording, changing names and setting aside no less than 46 lines/phrases, I finally reached the muses' goal - rather far from my initial conception. 

Perhaps one day, you'll get to read the results of that idea, but for now, I hope you like the current poem, as I do. 

PS : I used two of my own photographs for the image above. 

After the poem, you'll see the list of Emma's prompts + which stanzas correspond to them. 

 

Brain Storm

1

The sand clock stood on the table

its grains steadily downward streamed.

Through its glass, light refracted and held Mable's 

attention fixed upon their colorful beams 

2

Her eyes rolled, at their own rhythm opening and closing. 

Gently her body sank down in her chaise-

-longue, and with heavy lids, she fell asleep in a purple haze 

Her daily stresses slowly decomposing,

3

She wandered to a forest faraway, cherished and unchanged

Into her imaginary happy place and emerged back in childhood

It may have popped from a fantasy book and they could never be estranged

The weight of her waking hours lessened, her mind cooled

4

Light sounds of a nearby brook reached her ears,

Birds chirped, delightfully producing lyrical music of the spheres.

Deers broke off their run to exchange a look and sprinted away

Mable sang in her slumber a cheerful tune, still in the realm of Fay.

5 

Rays pierced through the canopy, shadows trailed on the ground,

and took shapes of dramatis personae, who proceeded to dance around.

Gusts had agitated branch and leaf in their attempts to bend the trees,

but their trunks withstood this adversity, refusing bowing to their pleas.

6  

The wind dropped to a light breeze and silences deepened.

Mable sat upon a rock - A letter she composed to an old friend,

Therein recounted tales of her adventures in this woodland

Asking her pall to join and paint in his unique style, freehand.

7 

The letter folded and pocketed, she continued her exploration

At the end of the path, two roads forked in opposite directions 

8

Her choice remaining untold, she walked the distance

till, reaching a cottage house, opened its door and dissolved in nonexistence

For Mable had never been but Lucy's reverie,

of a parallel life she'd wished for, set apart from her own mediocre trajectory

Emma's 10 prompts and key-words, followed by the numbers of stanzas in which they appear

Dreamland (alien, happy place, adventure) (1-8 ; 3 ; 8 )  

Inanimate object (unique pov, walls, camera) (1) 

Colors of emotion (rage, happiness, spectrum) (2) 

Time travel (history, make a change, end of an era) (3) 

Song of the seasons (autumn, xmas, halloween) (3-4) 

Shadows (light & dark, illusive, ghosts) (5)

Sound of silence (eg solitude, quiet, abandon) (6)

Unsent letter (text, lost words, apologies) (7) 

Parallel lives (destiny, connection, contrast) (8)

Last page (inspiring book, conclusion, bitter end) (8) 

Changes and additions after translating the poem into French (26 June 2023) : 

In 2nd stanza, in my initial stream of consciousness composition, I'd mistaken the word chaise, when it's actually chaise-longue or lounge ; since the rhyme was already made in English, I added a dash after chaise, and longue in the next line.

thus :

Gently her body sank down in her chaise

and with heavy lids, she fell asleep in a purple haze

became

Gently her body sank down in her chaise-

-longue, and with heavy lids, she fell asleep in a purple haze

in 4th stanzas Birds chirped, delightfully producing lyrical music of the spheres.

from initial 

 Birds chirped, delightfully producing music of the spheres.

6th stanzas has only one letter added, making silence into plural 

The wind dropped to a light breeze and silences deepened.

and in final stanza

of a parallel life she'd wished for, set apart from her own mediocre trajectory

from initial

of a parallel life she'd wished for, set apart from her own trajectory