Poem: "Innerworld"

[dreamwriters]

Title: Innerworld
Rating: G
Word Count: 1012
Line Count: 172
Original/Fandom: Original: Personal Narrative (Plurality)
Notes: Wrote this at Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation's Recovery Education Program for a poetry class forking off the topic of "sanctuary" that was supposed to be describing a real-world sanctuary, but instead ended up with this description of our innerworld which is what we tend to use for meditations as well.
Summary: A description of the innerworld for my plural system.

Innerworld
It’s not a place in the normal sense of the word
not somewhere you can chart on a map
It’s a place where faerieland magic isn’t far away at all
Not reality but as real as I wish
and it’s all my own and that’s what makes it my sanctuary

Step off the old steam train
Further down the road, skyscrapers in the distance
but immediately to your left the Mystic Crossroads
Here travelers stop for food and drink
and maybe a room for the night
friends from other worlds come here for
karaoke night, poker games, magic shows, and interviews.

You can stay at the Crossroads
as long as you like
but interviews are required
to enter the Common House Grounds
across the road

With the keycode
unlock the faux iron gate
A cobblestone path heads straight to a plantation house
but also forks into a millenia of dirt paths
through the gardens
to the farmlands
over the river
and through the woods
to Wonderland

Created from the work of a family of ninjas with
a affinity for plants
the gardens have rose-covered walls in assorted colors
and assorted flowers
and thousands of trees
birds and bees and butterflies live here
A feral cat colony has their home here too

Right at the entrance gate, again faux-iron,
a field with a gazebo and a shed
housing tents, tables, and chairs
and a children’s playground

In the center of the garden,
a round pond
It’s said that on a sunny day
If you toss in an offering of vegetables, fruit or flowers
if you’re lucky,
a Goddess may appear and grant you a wish
Nearby a torii gate leads to
a Shinto shrine to Amaterasu
And a labyrinth serves for meditation and worship
for those that follow nature
or another goddess’s path
dancing the spiral path
and letting spirit go free

And deeper in the woods
a romantic getaway with
fairylights, candles, garden tables and a swingset,
warded to allow only adults therein.

The Common House is a large plantation house
with a beautiful wraparound porch
RIght of the entrance way, a porch swing to sit
It’s bigger inside than out
The front hall opens to a library with an attached office
A double-parlor for social gatherings
and the dining hall set up like a more home-y cafeteria
A candle room shrine for remembrance, for joy, and for concern
And of course the sunroom where indoor plants grow

Go downstairs and you’ll find the healing springs next to the medical bay
And training rooms for a variety of sciences and martial arts both of this world and not
And of course a very large kitchen with ovens and stoves and even electric appliances
And a couple residential rooms too

Go upstairs however and you’ll find three floors of bedrooms, studies,
a nursery and secondary common rooms
And if you know the right place to touch,
secret passages to
a variety of offices and studios
and rooms above and below

Up further to the attic
and you come upon the Artists's suite,
a penthouse room with a balcony
with easels and art supplies
and even digital supplies for recording
video or music

Those who live here are
family of choice
people who chose to save me
or who I chose to save
And we each do our part
to make this house an intentional home

The farmlands are where we grow most of our food
Orchards and fields with fruit and vegetables
We also raise chickens and cows
and sheep and horses
The farmers manage the land
living in the two cabins with their wives and children
But allow everyone access in exchange for
helping with the sowing and harvesting seasons
sometimes when the animals aren’t in the field
you’ll find the gunslingers
and archers
working on target practice
on foot or on horseback

At the back of The Common House
on the edge of the farmlands
lies a river and a bridge
Sometimes a stage is set up
among the flowers here
for talent shows
And sometimes it’s been blockaded
to demonstrate talents with weaponry
swordsmanship and gunslinging and archery
and offensive magic
and sometimes even hand-to-hand

When you cross the bridge right before the woods
you come upon a small circle of cabins
Here some people also live if they don’t want to be in the House

The woods are filled with game
And every so often the hunters:
the gunslingers and the archers
and the snarers
will travel therein to bring back food
If you stick to the path however,
you’ll come out
the otherside
in Wonderland

In Wonderland
thoughtforms grow
And live to learn to help out
in ways different from the rest
of the residents in this innerworld

For thoughtforms are closer
to the subconscious reality
Closer to the mind
and all the more aware
Of peripheral things
than the others in this world

Wonderland is marked with another house
in a magical world where the area is divided into seasons and places
A rainy beach
A firefly garden at night
A winter wonderland
And an autumnal garden

Inside the house it is strange
Many rooms are combined into bedrooms
A large library
where memories
dreams and knowledge reside
overlooks the autumnal garden out front

Overlooking the winter wonderland
a spacious kitchen
where fresh cookies are
almost always baked

Overlooking the firefly garden
a sparse training room with futons
and cushions and low light
and hardwood floors for dancing

Overlooking the rainy beach
a childish room in baby pink
with a Hello Kitty theme
Sometimes when I need to be a child
I go here to stay and
the thoughtforms fall into roles
reteaching me what I need to learn
to be an adult again

This world is mine
that I carry wherever I go
As much me as
memory and reality
and I go here
When I can’t go elsewhere
and I need to know
I’m not alone

And here my family of choice
always reminds me
that they’ll be here to support
me along the way