Unmasked- Part V

Origin Story

In which reality is blurred, we go back to the beginning to discover how it all began, sleep the sleep of the dead and get awkwardly personal.

There is a moment
a singular occasion
one infinitesimal point in time
just before my eyelids close
just before sleep takes me
between my conscious thoughts
and nightly dreams
of you
when you become one
and the same.
There is an instant then
a blurred reality
just before the show begins
just before the recognition
of sleeping alone
in my queen size bed
disappears
when two worlds collide
and you are made real.
It's strange
this inbetween time
this drowsy plane
just after I lay my worries down
just after the stress seeps out
through my tightly
closed eyes
when you arrive
in all your predetermined glory
your half-remembered beauty
in all your finery.
I know I created you
no exposure to radiation
empowered you
no spider bites
or robotic suits
or government experiments
superpowered you,
just the electrical impulses
of my brain
arcing between synapses,
just the overactive
imagination of my childlike view,
just the pop culture fuelled
engine of my creativity,
molding you and
folding you,
making you into something
more than the sum of your parts,
restructuring
picturing an image
that couldn't
could it?
possibly be real.
There is an eternity
where I feel your body
next to mine
a passing second
a lifetime
when I swear
I feel your breath against my neck
and I dream
of dreaming.
This isn't you
who broke my heart
with no superpowers at all
just good old fashioned
love
you
my kryptonite
whispering dream
of the dark hours,
clashing like foes,
you
the villain in my mind.
This isn't you
who arrives nightly
while I fly-
through the made up
make up
of my dream theatre
the metropolis
of my mind.
This is the moment
a rapid stirring behind my eyes
when you are more
than just the girl
I want
not yet the vision
I have
when the girl of my dreams
and the girl in my dreams
become one
and you are neither here
nor there
where you are made
flesh and blood
and sinew
have not left
and will not
where you, she
powerful
are powerless
where nothing that came before
is behind me
a blank page
for new frames
beginnings
and an end
the fans are happy with.
For a split second
Dream Girl
my ink and lines mistress
is more real than my physical scars
my distress,
for one wondrous line
I am flying poetry
in that inbetween phase
that momentary stage
that single page
where you are real.

Originally published 2011.
Artwork by Tim Burrows @ www.timmyb.com
Artwork by Fiona Burrows @ www.fionaburrows.com

In 2011 I gathered a group of artist friends from around Perth and asked for their help in illustrating my 5-part superhero poem Unmasked.

Originally, Unmasked was to be published as part of a series of zines by a small Perth literary magazine. Unfortunately, that magazine fell apart before our hard work got to see the light of day. I had a few copies printed and gave them to family and friends, but the full project was never fully realised.