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Endless Dreaming
a villanelle
I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream.
The nightmare’s end is far; I’m still inside
A dream within a dream within a dream.
I fall out my front door at heights extreme
(Since now my house sits on a mountainside);
I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream.
My bed becomes a boat and floats downstream;
I’m carried out to where the waves are wide—
A dream within a dream within a dream.
I wake up on my boat at dawn’s first gleam.
I’m sucked beneath the waves by roaring tide!
I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream.
The things in dreams are never what they seem.
I navigate this world without a guide:
A dream within a dream within a dream.
No longer can I trust a morning beam.
Will someone stop this endless nightmare ride?
I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream—
A dream within a dream within a dream.
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The Freezing Artist
based on the fine art photo “Starving Artist Getting
Warm by a Painting of Fire” by Teun Hocks (1990)
I’m warming my hands by a make-believe fire—
I hope to fend off old Jack Frost by a feint,
Pretending that somehow I’ll sate my desire
By staring at yellows and reds mixed in paint.
I can’t sell my paintings, I’ve nothing for spending;
I can’t keep a job, so I’ve nothing to eat,
And somehow, I can’t just warm up by pretending—
I’d rather burn wood for some actual heat!
But wood can’t be had, so it’s back to the acting,
Imagining warmth on my freezing-cold hands.
I’ll soon paint some food and some friends for distracting
Myself from my life in these cold, windy lands.
first published in New English Review
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Joshua C. Frank works in the field of statistics and lives in the American Heartland. His poetry has also been published in Snakeskin, The Lyric, Sparks of Calliope, Westward Quarterly, New English Review, and many others, and his short fiction has been published in several journals as well.
1. “Endless Dreaming:” Ah, the dream state that suddenly awakens us possibly with sweat on our brow. Freud would have fun with yours as you communicated to us. Some may laugh and some may worry about you. I fall into the latter category and hope that was a one-time occurrence.
2. “The Freezing Artist” is much like the famished poet. Fortunately, I do not depend on poetry to feed me or keep me warm unless I eat or burn the paper on which it is printed. The quote certainly sets up the scenario and you made excellent use of it with your colorful, vivid portrayal.
Thank you, Roy. No need to worry about me; the speaker isn’t me. I wrote “Endless Dreaming” based on a prompt: “dream within dream.”
Endless Dreaming is very cleverly written. One vision morphs into the next which, despite its seeming reality, turns out to be as illusory as the first. How long is this “tunnel of visions”? To where does it lead? This is solipsism on steroids, as the mind creates one illusory world after another, to be replaced by yet another. A terrifying, Matrix-like trip through a world in which no assured difference can be discerned between shadow and substance, illusion and reality. This constant questioning of what really lies behind the appearance of things shows how an element of faith is required for the most elementary knowledge. A measure of faith necessarily underlies all assured metaphysical claims. Without faith, going through life is like falling down a rabbit hole whose depth and bottom remain unknown, with a final landing place that remains a matter of continual angst.
“The Freezing Artist” also deals with the contrast between illusion and reality and the limitations of the creative imagination to supply real, non-illusory human needs.
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Thank you, Martin. You’ve understood the points of both poems very well.
I had not looked at/seen the painting before I read the poem. Both are equally poignant, illustrating each other and the lives of so many – not only artists but whoever has not been blessed by others’ appreciating one’s work.
Thank you, Michael. I’m glad you like them so much.
These are both so well-written, and very imaginative!
Thank you Cynthia!
Josh, I really like the dread you manage to build in your villanelle — an unexpected effect of your creative use of this poetic form. Your relation of traumatic dreams acquires strong momentum from the repetends and when you get to that final stanza and you no longer trust “the morning beam” you’ve had us emerge with you into a reality that is as frightening as your dream worlds. I can think of at least three meanings associated with your “endless nightmare ride” — the literal nightmares you’ve experienced, the speaker’s subjective nightmare of waking into his real life (focusing on the personality of the speaker), and the nightmarish state of the world itself (focusing on the objective reality of our shared dsytopia.) I’d like to know what it is you mean by “endless nightmare ride” and if I’m reading too much into it.
I also very much enjoyed “The Freezing Artist.” I love the artist’s reliance on the things he paints in lieu of his ability to acquire the real things. I wrote a science fiction book on a not-dissimilar theme — about an artist with the supernatural ability to manifest reality through her paintings. But your conception is quite different — yours is a non-fantasy character study about deprivation and wish-fulfillment. As you present it, this is a subject which could be mined even more deeply with a longer narrative piece or a short story. This poem leaves me wanting more.
Thanks Brian! To answer your question, all three possibilities are some part of it. As I mentioned to Roy, the idea came from a prompt (“dream within dream”). The image of someone going through a seemingly endless succession of waking up only to learn that he’s in another dream and will likely repeat the process yet again appeared full-blown (this is the “endless nightmare ride”). I knew the villanelle would be the perfect form for that, and the images were based on the rhymes. However, as I wrote it, all those themes you mention came up, but mainly, what I had in mind was that I’ve had my concept of reality reshaped so radically so many times, as our dystopian world has changed so much so rapidly (not to mention the changes in the opposite direction that God has called me to make), that sometimes I feel like the speaker, hence the line, “No longer can I trust a morning beam.”
You’re right about what “The Freezing Artist” is. I saw the picture and knew I had to write about it; it seems that a lot of things we do are a form of what the speaker is doing to try to meet his very real needs. That’s a good idea, to mine it for more material… I’ll definitely look into that!
I’d also love to see your science-fiction story on that theme…
I love me a good villanelle, and you’ve given us one of the more interesting ones I’ve read. We’re used to villanelles being wistful, even mournful contemplations, but you’ve given us a work of sheer terror and almost psychedelic reality-bending. The refrain, normally a lament, becomes a shriek of panic and fear.
I also love poems inspired by the visual or musical arts. “Freezing Artist” gives a voice to the painting, and I appreciate its skillful use of anapests.
Thank you, Adam. I like to break out of a form’s conventions and stretch it to the fullest.
If you like ekphrastic poems, I’ve also written some poems on classical music and a few inspired by the video games I remember from childhood.
The villanelle reminds me of those Russian mamushka dolls, where a series of hollow figures are contained within each other. The idea of a nightmare that is an endless belt, like a Mobius Strip, is both jarring and upsetting. I think that this is exactly what Joshua was trying to achieve.
“The Freezing Artist” is a fine ekphrastic piece. That’s another genre that we could use more examples of here.
Thank you, Joe. Yes, that’s exactly what I was trying to achieve. Apparently it worked.
I agree that we could use more ekphrastic poems here. I’ve been working on branching out into genres of poetry I don’t usually write, and when I saw the picture, I knew I had to write that one.
Josh, I simply adore both poems. I love a good villanelle and your striking employment of repetition in “Endless Dreaming” is used to excellent effect… it really suits the subject matter, which (for me) has echoes of this insane world we live in.
“The Freezing Artist” is beautiful. It tapped into my emotions with vivid imagery that highlights the artist’s predicament perfectly. Your admirably wrought lines bring this remarkable ekphrastic to life… your poem reflects the wonder of the painting splendidly. Well done!
Thank you Susan!
I’m glad you like the use of the villanelle form and the repetends in “Endless Dreaming.” It has echoes of today’s insane world for me, too; as I mentioned to Brian, because of how rapidly it all changes, I sometimes feel like the speaker.
I’m also glad I was able to tap into your emotions with “The Freezing Artist.” Again, because of today’s insane world that is not equipped to provide many of our most basic needs, I sometimes feel like the speaker of that poem, too.
Although * read them, to be honest although I read them, I invariably find myself disappointed at conclusion. To me, this is a form designed for those with little imagination. But this one caught my eye. Congratulations on taking what I consider a bumbling form and using it to express a poetic concept!
I enjoyed all of these poems; especially the one about the starving artist warming himself at the painting of fire. A triumph of the imagination @
Thank you, Sally. I’m glad you like these.
I agree that the villanelle is not suitable for every poem; however, I found it suitable for the subject matter. To my knowledge, my favorite classic poets never used villanelles or other fixed forms such as rondeaux, but I’ve found these to be useful to have in my poetic toolbox.
Nice work, and I’m not joshing.
Thank you C.B.!