Allison Pistohl
Words
“Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They're journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.” - Neil Gaiman
9PM In The Lands Beyond
Misspoken
This,
Is the time the dreaming would begin.
Remember?
Being young and free enough to dream.
Now,
We are too full of other things to spend time on such nonsense.
Now,
We are too full of lists.
We are too full of chores.
We are too full of woes and caution.
And look what has happened.
We’ve gone and forgotten all about the dragons who would visit us in the Lands Beyond.
We’ve forgotten the castles we would explore.
We’ve forgotten the feeling of adventure that would carry us through the next day,
Inspiring a thrill of confidence
Of wonder
And the thoughts of endless possibilities.
Now,
There is just responsibilities.
Go to work.
Pay your bills.
Be on time.
Say your prayers.
Fear the thoughts.
Fear the cost.
Fear their judgment.
Fear the loss.
I'm going to go find my dragons. ..........
The Tasks Set Before Her
The list of things she needs to do
is long
and heavy
and she is tired
from the dreams that wake her
she is tired
from the thoughts that keep her awake
she is tired of the way the world has changed and wants so much to have the old world back
if only she could find the answers to the questions that distract her
the answers that she once held in her hands
she must have put them down somewhere a while ago
too distracted to notice she didn't have them anymore
she can not find them now
now that she needs them
perhaps they are buried under the pile of laundry that stares at her from the corner of the room
she’ll get to doing that laundry one day
it’s on her list
to find the answers
it’s on her list
it’s on her ever growing list of things she needs to do
She was told to stay within her form.
Her path had been plotted generations before by
old
pale
men
who knew what was best
and did what was best
and brought out the very worst in all of us.
She was told to stay within her form.
And not to let her voice echo down the corridors
in case the younger children were listening at the door, up past their bedtime.
What a poor example you have become.
She was told to stay within her form
and
let
things
be.
Her skirt was too short.
Her words were too sharp.
Her thoughts could be seen when they were not wanted
and it made THE PEOPLE uneasy.
She was told to stay within her form.
To contain.
To constrain.
To refrain.
To regress.
Unless,
she wished to be terrifying.
Oh, how she wished to be terrifying.
For the form she was in had already begun to crack
years before when she was just a little girl.
It was about to shatter now
any breath could do it and she would be free.
But what would become of the the poor misspoken girl
when she decided for herself?
What wonderful things could become.
From The Dark Of That Moment
She remembered being free
breathing in the wind that used to be.
Foolishness!
They condemned with hatred in their eyes.
But a light erupted from the dark of that moment
and it was hers.
She drew from that light a new strength.
She drew from it the thing that she needed to be free.
Again.