Challenging Poetry

process

I close my eyes,
and see them—characters
with aches and loves
and miscommunications
spilling their lives in ink
across my mind,
characters moving and
countermoving and reacting
so that the story moves,
dream like, through conflict
and climax to resolution—
and when it is solid
in my brain, and my fingers
are ready to dance their story,
discovering the words
to make the dream live,
I open my eyes.
and I open my eyes again.

line count: 18