Original digital surreal art: “Beaurêvé” by: rob kistner © 9/12/23
R eal
yes
I know this is real
and I know
I have been here
many times
I think
no
this is more than a thought
much more
I’m certain
yes
I have been here
my mind’s now clear
gone
the foggy curtain
this is a place I’ve been
and I am here again
it captivates me
tugging at me
drawing me in
this night
I cannot shake its pull
it fills my writer’s soul
to full
I know this place
known it all my life
foresaw this moment
would come in my time
this was my mystery to find
dreams of my youth were filled
with the recurring signs
but does this place
truly exist
or does it exist
only in my mind
do I know it
only as a memory
of a memory
or do I know it
as a memory
of a place
a place I have been
a place
whose red soil
I have trod
whose sun
so rich and golden
it could be spent
like money
a place whose air
wafts of cinnamon
and honey
whose slick shale mountains
cut dramatic silhouettes
into the alien sky
whose ground cover
the leaves of which
are the sweet taste
of finest licorice
and the berries
are as sweet
and as tart
as the ripest pomegranate
this is
a most wondrous planet
Original digital surreal art: “ Pájaröné Mating Birds”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/23
a place
whose beautiful black birds
accented crimson and sable
are known as Pájaröné
they fly in pairs
never alone
when in flight
they bell gently
blending as one
not unlike the call
of the white-tailed deer
of my enchanted Oregon
”gentle bird on the wing
it’s to my very heart you sing
it’s to my captive soul you call
my very essence you enthrall”
I swoon in reverie
when I hear the Pájaröné
oh this place
whose crystal waters
effervesce
in cordovan river beds
whose sparsely limbed
ebony trees
the Nêra’elbéro
shimmer coralesque
Original digital surreal art: “Nêra’elbéro Tree”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/23
the bark of which
tears easily away
to expose sweet under-bark
breadlike
delicately delicious
remarkably nutritious
also
heavy laden
nut bushes abound
ripened nuts fall
cluttering the ground
everywhere edibles
can be found
ever surprising
this exotic place
a place of contrasts
and contradictions
a place which
at first glance
seems almost baron
even hostile
but its eerie magic
does soon beguile
it stirs my soul
accelerates my heartbeat
fascinates my mind
it can spark my apprehension
and demands my utmost attention
to survive
a place quite harsh
so bizarrely otherworld-like
so unsettlingly foreign
that it’s magnificently strange
breathtakingly beautiful
a place from which
you cannot look away
whose extreme environment
presents a challenge everyday
still
you do not want to leave
yet here I am
back on Gaia Neuvo
new mother earth
with no useful recall
of when
nor how I returned
Original digital surreal art: “Space Orbs Return to Gaia Neuvo”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/23
but it feels
so much I’ve learned
is this just a memory
of a memory
a fantastical fictional creation
of my mind
or an amazing journey
prophetically foretold
in the dreams
of a clairvoyant 12-year-old
dreams of this place
called Beaurêvé
or is it in fact
not just a dream
but rather
a vivid memory of a place
a place
I realize I have been
and in my soul
so much
want to go again
to once more
marvel at the amazing
to seek wild adventure
embracing the vast unknown
trekking its landscape
wonderfully alone
awestruck
by the unbelievable
a phantasmagoric odyssey
that may be
for me
quite possibly
achievable
afterall — I am a writer
Original digital surreal art: “LaTieke the Celestial Poet”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/23
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rob kistner © 9/12/23
Poetry at: dVerse