By Miya Mahipat

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In light of the boredom of life, daydreaming can captivate creativity.

I am an imaginative dreamer
I wonder what it would be like to visit another world
A dimension captivating my senses through a timeless wave 
I hear their language
Their endearing terms roll off their tongues like a river stream
A course of love running through their world
The potion of all our desires
Old lovers reminisce their love story,
Fondly remembering the taste of each other's lips in the rain
The land bonds together to hear the couples matinee
I watch the moon glisten in their presence 
The stars recall the stories from above
I see the way they live their lives
They are birds, they flock together, they soar the crisp morning sky
“Do you think in another life I could have been a bird?”
A sea gull soaring through the air decades ago
to be one with nature, to be flushed with ocean mist
I envy them 
I am an imaginative dreamer 

I pretend I’m there, in that world of insurmountable bliss
The winds of their world whisper my name begging me to stay
I feel like I am one of them, bathing in these clouds of ecstasy
I touch the land and trees 
The ones only to be seen in the depths of your mind
The forest flora calls me as though it’s missing apart of itself
I swim in pools of eternal euphoria and melancholy 
I worry if I go back to my world this feeling will fade
A high that can only be felt and seen from the psyche i've created
I cry because I know it's withering away
I transport to a gauche life 
taking the muse away from the painter
the brush away from an artist’s hands
for what would I do, without my muse?
I am an imaginative dreamer

I understand that this is just the imagination of an ingénue
“I'll make the most of my life,” I say as the world inside my mind dwindles, 
I dream one day I'll live a life outside my mind
Living away from my forgotten land of dreams
I'll awake to the seagulls flocking together
I'll breathe in the crisp morning air from my saltbox house
On an isolated coast i've planted myself into the grounds of 
I try and try, but my mind always wonders
I hope one day I’ll be rooted in presence
I am an imaginative dreamer

Process

I wrote “Elegy” during my sophomore year English class to reflect who I was then. The repetitions of “I am” were supposed to give my English teacher a peek into my life. However, as I graduated from one grade to the next, I never stopped adding and editing new lines and stanzas to this poem. With the help of my mentor, Alexandra, I was encouraged to explore a romantic, imaginative world using the real-life daydreams I had in the present. To fully emphasize the world I had built, I used imagery and similes to captivate my readers– to have them imagine a world of endless possibilities. I also wanted to capture a residual melancholy that occurs as reality hits and real life starts to seep through. Throughout writing this poem, I strengthened my imagery skills. I also learned what writing methods fit me the most. Writing poetry is fluid and, just like people, does not have to make sense entirely. As long as you keep writing and keep walking your path with determination, things will always work out.