Beaurêvé


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

*
rob kistner © 9/12/23
Poetry at: dVerse

 

15 thoughts on “Beaurêvé”

  1. An epic poem, Rob, in which you have opened your heart and spilled your emotions. I love the appeal to the senses in ‘a place whose air smells like cinnamon and honey’, leaves with ‘the sweet taste of finest licorice’ and berries ‘as tart as the ripest pomegranate’. These lines resonated with me: ‘a phantasmagoric odyssey
    that may be
    for me
    quite possibly
    achievable

    afterall — I am a writer’.

  2. Rob, you had me at your first digital artwork. Do you ever print these images out on glossy paper? I think my son would love that on his wall.
    I think you have been to this realm, it feels real. It looks hostile at first glance but as you flesh it out it feels like an otherworldly paradise.

    I wondered if anyone would write to the last option and thrilled that you did.

  3. Descriptions of sight, sound, and scent are incredibly realistic,
    especially if its a memory or . . . a memory within a memory.
    Excellent writing, Rob!

    1. Thank you Sara. I have always wanted to write a sci-fi novel. I have started 4 over the years, but my patience fails me — so now they all exist in my writing portfolio as long form sci-fi poems. Oh well. ADHD since youth. It has its disadvantages, but it has advantages as well, because it can provide short-term hyper focus, which can vividly explode your imagination in short periods.

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