Dream Pilgrimage     

by Karen L. George


Float across a night lake
on a crisp, vast leaf-raft.
A mammoth Isabella tiger
moth lands on your back,
spine aligned with yours,
golden wings, your sails.
Fireflies flicker around you,
light your way, glow haloes
that vibrate, paint glimmer-
trails arcing the green-black sky.
Fish leap through the liquid mouth,
frogs croak, your boat makes waves,
furry moth wings pulse a soft hum,
an echo inside you, a flow like blood.
The leaf-boat’s ribs expand, contract,
release the peppery scent of cinnamon
which braids the lake’s muddy musk
with fireflies’ and moths’ dusty,
lush spice. Head for the vortex
near the far shore, sink through
a portal to the wing-queen’s
underwater palace where
you’ll be fitted with wings
to replace those you outgrew
many lives ago. You barely
recall the tickly, dreamy heft.


* * * * *

"Dream Pilgrimage" was inspired by digital artwork of Karin Claesson, found on Karen Claesson's Facebook page at Facebook.  

Karen George is the author of three poetry collections from Dos Madres Press: Swim Your Way Back (2014), A Map and One Year (2018), and Where Wind Tastes Like Pears (2021). She won Slippery Elm’s 2022 Poetry Contest, and her short story collection, How We Fracture, which won the Rosemary Daniell Fiction Prize, is forthcoming from Minerva Rising Press in January 2024. Her work appears in Adirondack Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Cultural Daily, Salamander, and Poet Lore. Her website is: https://karenlgeorge.blogspot.com/.