IMPORTANT
1.The poem is IN THE MOMENT - do not tell, but show, per my example on the contest page.
2. It is the INTRODUCTION, and not a description of the dream itself. For example:
From my poem, Through the Keyhole
Deceit of sun when rays are still but porous;
unwelcome thief, afford my dream more seconds.
Some dappled shadows flit through mystic keyhole;
alight upon pellucid remnant image.
I stifle yawn as thoughts embrace the vision.
From my poem, View from Basement Flat
It was the sound that first drew me
to the low street facing window.
I cleared a small spot in the grime
and was rewarded by ankles.
Clickity-clack, clickity-clack.
From my poem, Redamancy Lament
emotions are coursing over gnarled Travertine rocks
surreal
tears are my broken dream’s shards
scattered on a barren soil
I am fully aware that most people associate the iambic pentameter with ten syllables per line, but my contest calls for the extension of this standard definition, ie an additional unstressed syllable at the line end: */|*/|*/|*/|*/|*. Please bear with me. The picture: The top one depicts the pattern of the metre, where * donates the unstressed syllable, and / donates the stressed syllable. | defines each iambic foot. But then you would know this if you had read my article regarding scansion. The bottom ribbing is what it looks like when the metre is not adhered to. You be the judge as to which one looks the best, let alone, which one would sound the best when read out loud. See my handy tip below. Any corrections made after I have read your poem: Please remove and resubmit your poem in order for me to pick up the corrections. Thank you.
Furthermore, when I had said ‘At times, the metre of the line may dictate that an otherwise unstressed syllable is stressed, and vice versa. I will make allowances for this, but within reason.’, I was referring to the instances when the metre in the line can’t be forced, for example: ‘… but gossip which they heard from …’. You should begin and end each line with an unstressed syllable if you wish to get the iambic metre correct.
Regarding the definition of hypnagogic: Some online dictionaries refer to this as the period of vivid dreams soon after you fall asleep. But from my personal experience (and those of many others) it also refers to the vivid dreams experienced just before becoming fully awake. This can manifest itself at any time during a sleep cycle. My example, Through the keyhole, is of a dream early morning before reality crowded in. Also, from personal experience, these hypnagogic dreams are often prophetic in nature.
A personal anecdote: My daughter was chosen for the swimming team to represent her school at the provincial level. Because there were not any girls in her age group to practice against, she used to swim competitive against the boys’ swimming team of her school.
Shortly before the main event (they stopped practicing 3 days before a competition), I had woken up with the very vivid dream of her drowning still fresh in my mind. I did not want to worry her, but asked her to sit out the practice that day. She informed me that they could not swim that day as the school was getting the pool ready for the competition.
When she arrived back from school later that afternoon, she was as white as a ghost. What had transpired was that the swimming instructor had taken the team to a beach nearby – a sea that is notorious for its riptides. She had been caught up in one of the riptides and had gone under. Luckily she had earlier told one of her friends about my concern and he had kept an eye on her. He had pulled her out of harm’s way and had signalled for help. They were soon rescued.
WRITING TIP
Make a list of the keywords that come to mind when you think of the topic you wish to write about. If you are unsure as to which are the stressed syllables in the polysyllabic words, you could check these using apps such as How Many Syllables. For a quick reference to check which are stressed and unstressed monosyllabic words, you may refer to my article here on Poetry Soup: Scansion (see the link on the contest page). When checking for the stressed syllables on an app, you need to search the stem/root word, for example, economic. Search economy (the stem word)—the result: e-con-o-my, and make the adjustment: e-con-o-mic.
In two-syllable stem words, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs are usually stressed on the first syllable. Two-syllable verbs are usually stressed on the second syllable. There are exceptions, for example, even (e-ven) is a verb, adjective, or adverb where the stress is on the first syllable; any (a-ny) both are stressed syllables.
SOME EXAMPLES TO GET YOU STARTED
Words beginning with an unstressed syllable
ac-cused
a-gainst
an-oth-er
ap-peal
com-pete
fo-ment
ful-fil-ment
in-tense
po-e-try
re-al-i-ty
re-bound
tor-ment
un-wel-come
Words ending in an unstressed syllable
back-seat
bet-ter
coun-try
dai-ly
e-cho
in-ner
jus-tice
kind-ness
me-mo-ry
mo-ment
nur-ture
oth-er
peo-ple
re-al-ly
shad-ow
smoth-er
spir-it
sti-fle
trou-ble
vi-brant
whis-per
whis-pers
Happy quills!
Suzette
NB Please pose questions on the relevant blog as I can’t engage in personal one-on-one correspondence due to the unreliable internet connection as a result of the rolling blackouts in my country. Only contact me in case of a fire. Thank you.
A hypnagogic dream – NEW CONTEST - Suzette Richards's Blog (poetrysoup.com)