3:15 Experiment Poem: Aug. 8, 2001–too bright for stars
was I dreaming?
what are the dreams before sleep about?
last night I was a lesbian
I think I was going to get a tattoo
———
the year gets so late
my knows bleeds
it rushes by so fast
my ears roar
where do my days go
how many have a speed
wandering lost in the living room
trying to find my way in the kitchen
stumbling over the lamp n the bedroom
——–
there are crickets outside
and the little girls ask about frogs
they want to find pollywogs
this I’m not sure of
they require still water
maybe some mud
the water outback
rushes today in its channel
doesn’t stop for pollywogs
a raccoon eats the catfood
knocks over the trash
chases the little black dog
the sky is too bright for the stars
yet here a frog nestles in the dahlia
a gray rock in the soft white tenderness
A Monday poem…catch the poetry train here! Or visit Read Write Poem for some rebellious rule-breaking poems.
And in case you’re new here, poets who participate in the 3:15 Experiment wake up every night during the month of August to write. After the end of the experiment, we transcribe out scribblings verbatim and post them on the 3:15 website.
Discover more from art predator
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
art predator 
I like these snippets of thoughts. It’s like you are naming all these concrete things and then “the sky is too bright for the stars” and everything gets mystical!
That’s a beautiful closing image to a swirling 3:15 am poem. It sounds great too, it would be a cool one to podcast or video, maybe with an animation.
thanks, Linda, for your observations!
and Paul, thank you for suggesting I do an audio or video! how are your animation skills coming, btw?
Oh terrible. I gave up. It was just too tricky for my fumbly fingers and not something I could learn by playing. New devices are being devised as we speak. This poem, like many of your 3;15 am poems work below the level of linear rationality. It is possible to read as quite enticingly rude surreal imagery extending or depicting the original thought. You were dreaming you were a lesbian and the rest of the poem is a symbolic interpretation of the detail of that dream, hmm, it’s quite possible to think of the poem that way.
that’s a very interesting reading, paul, thank you!
in the past, since i love the last stanza, i have ignored the first two, as not at all connected and lost. but there are things in the second stanza i like-how 315 mind expresses itself. so i decided what the heck, put the whole thing up here and see what happens. and when i did put it up, i saw how the last 2 lines could be read as connected with the first stanza and some of the rest too.
Love the concept, it gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘I dreamed it up!’ Love the line: ‘my knows bleeds’ and the bit about getting lost in the living room!
…I also like the way thoughts scatter -just like in a dream.
I do believe I was going to participate in this exercise, but I think I disappeared up my own bum or something. It’s not easy getting out of bed at 3:15 when you are stuck in the aforementioned posture. Anyhow, I loved this; and Paul’s symbolic reading definitely adds a whole nuther level of reading pleasure.
Well, Brad, there’s always next year to join in! I hope you and others will join in! I’m not sure i can exactly say it’s “fun” getting up at 3:15am every night for a month to write and then go back to sleep, but it does have its rewards!
Thanks for the comment, Annamari!
Sweet, funny how strong the editing impulse is! I imagine I’d intended “nose” but left it as “knows” since that was what I wrote down at 315am!