by Jered X
I had too much to dream last night,
After dinner at a Welsh/Mexican restaurant;
Chili con carne, laverbread, leeks, and tequila shots
Strolling mariachi bands wailed
While blackened-face choirs of coal miners sang “We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside…”
Owen Glendower and Santa Anna waltzed beneath the moonlight.
Yes, I had too much to dream—
It was better than a movie, but less cohesive.
Maybe it was the undigested laverbread
Maybe the tequila shots
Glowworms hung from the ceiling.
Lighting the mariachi miners with an eerie greenish glow
I sang Welsh songs to them
They seem to like it
How can you tell with glowworms?
Santa Anna said they were the larva of flies
Owen Glendower declared them the reincarnation of kings
Maggots and reincarnations
Dreams and reality
Without one, there would not be the other.
What happens to dreams?
Where do they go?
All that hopeful, desperate energy can't just fade away…can it?
Vanishing like Owen Glendower, dying like Santa Anna
With an eerie greenish glow
Jered X is a group of five award-winning writers with many publications to their credit. Jered X is a name created by taking a letter from each writer’s name. Jered X poems are written collectively. Group member Elizabeth King gives a prompt. Then each person contributes a line on a theme. King then molds them into a collective piece.
Jenny Brundage is an actress, writer, and producer known for Clarity, Jessica Frost (2019) and Stasis (2017). She’s been published in many anthologies.
Charles Christian is an English barrister turned writer, sometime werewolf hunter, and internet radio host. He’s a prolific author, and publisher. The Urban Fantasist website is home to his blog postings on weird tales, geek stuff, tech, urban myths, folklore, and anything else that intrigues him, as well as the popular Grievous Angel science fiction and fantasy poetry and flash fiction webzine.
Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein has been a stand-up, a poet, an author, a studio exec, a painter, an exec producer and a dedicated educator. Her documentary, Not Afraid To Laugh, was nominated for a Peabody. She co-wrote the book Dating Your Character, a new character-based writing tool.
E.E. King is a painter, performer, writer, and biologist. Ray Bradbury called her stories “marvelously inventive, wildly funny and deeply thought-provoking. I cannot recommend them highly enough.” In addition to her work with animals, King has been published widely. She is also the proud and somewhat fearless leader of The Albino Pineapples, a group of five award-winning writers who each have many publications to their credit.
Richard D. Weaver is an Illustrator of things biological and writer of things fantastic. He lives on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by things biologic and fantastical.