Poem of the Day: “Army of Dreams” by Christopher Hivner

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Army of Dreams” by Christopher Hivner.  Mr. Hivner writes from a small town in Pennsylvania. He has recently been published in Liquid Imagination, Five, and Poetry Quarterly. His chapbook of poems, The Silence Brushes My Cheek Like Glass was published by Scars Publications and another, Adrift on a Cosmic Sea, was published by Kind of a Hurricane Press.  Visit him at: www.chrishivner.com, or “friend” “Christopher Hivner - Author” on Facebook, or follow him on Twitter: @Your_screams.

Army of Dreams

Christopher Hivner

 

A treasury of bottles

containing my dreams

line the shelf

like forgotten soldiers,

weapons and pride

at the ready,

begging to be called

to battle.

The last time

I cleaned them off

the dust

choked my breathing.

With watery eyes

I peered in

at my aspirations,

the glass of the bottle

distorting the picture,

limning a vision

of chaos.

I cleaned each bottle

removing the dirt

until the glass

shone like jewels.

With a last

wistful glance

I put them back

on the shelf,

one after the other

in a straight line.

I saluted

my army of dreams

before closing

the cupboard door.

The last thing I saw

were the bottles

standing at ease

shaking their heads

at orders

that make no sense.

Poet’s Notes: I have my moments of taking charge and getting things done, but I have more of procrastination, over-thinking, and fear of failure. Of course the effect of this is that things I want to do, ideas I have, never come to fruition. The dreams never die; they slide to the back of my mind to re-emerge at strange times, such as while I’m at work trying to concentrate on some task and all I can think about is that plot idea I had for a novel a year ago that I never wrote. I was in one of these reveries when I wrote “Army of Dreams”.

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the overriding metaphor here and the (sadly) universal theme.