For 2026, I made a goal to participate in all the monthly ekphrastic poetry contests at the local Bellefonte Art Museum. I started with a last-minute submission to the January contest (the very night it was due, I believe!), and as if someone Up There wanted to encourage me, my poem was selected for display!
The artwork used for the prompt was a photo by Gary Schubert called “Kimes Meadow,” and my poem’s title was “How Fast a Dream Changes.” Just in case the image isn’t showing above, here is what it looked like on display this month:
Since it was taken down today, I would like to post the poem below (not for reposting elsewhere, mind). Here’s to more poetry in 2026!
How Fast a Dream Changes
and suddenly I’m dreaming in chartreuse
a country lane as seen through bottle-glass
as I wade watery green shadows
where before—I don’t remember
don’t recall a world past here,
the meadow grass, the hazy trees,
a hidden home not mine
I am alone between the rough-barked trunks
an interloper
and I know
in spite of peachy puffs of cloud and spilling sun
some Thing approaches me
wide-winged teal storm on the horizon
is there time, can I escape?
will a stranger let me in?
I see already—time will melt,
the field will stretch—
and I will move as underwater
the door of not-my-house will lock
while darkening, flashing skies advance
and I cannot wake up