This was a response to Esther’s Challenge for a Laugh Along a Limerick, to write a limerick that included the word dream. At first, I was looking to Salvador Dali for inspiration, but, searching the Internet, I came across this surrealistic art by Vladimir Kush. Do you notice that the antelope has a lyre between its horns, the foliage is also made of horns and that there are musical notations in the cloud shapes? It is bizarre, fantastical and dreamy but not unpleasant. In fact, an explanation on Kush’s site talks about “a fresh, positive side of surrealism.”
I’m sharing this with dVerse’s Open Link Night. I was looking through my picture files for poetry inspiration and found this copy of artwork by Lisa Finch. I just love it for several reasons. Many of you know that I have an animal care business, so that was one reason. I love the glamour of the female character here, the fact that she has fallen asleep with an open book and the title of the artwork which is also “The Dreamers,” which seemed to speak of imagination and creativity.
Lisa Finch has an Etsy shop where she sells some of her work on canvas and also prints and note cards. I perused it and found so many more pieces that I enjoy. Animals seem to be a common theme, not just pets but wild and exotic animals as well. Many of her pieces seem to have a sort of female Dr. Doolittle character. She has some fantasy and almost surrealistic scenes with some old Hollywood glamour combined in there. I almost feel I should revisit for an art-themed post.
This poem was written as part of dVerse’s Blue Tuesday challenge. (I think I am getting addicted to challenges.)
A little end note: I wrote a similar poem, free verse, about Gerschwin and the train for a college creative writing class years ago. This is not that original poem. With computer failures and changing devices over the years, I’ve lost some of my archives. The dream really happened, a lot more recently than my first poem on this theme. I had put together a classical playlist for insomnia, but this piece was a little too exciting for my insomnia!