For Want of Better Dreams
For want of better dreams the plainest things
elude our closest scrutiny — take flight.
DaVinci, though his notes were erudite,
slighted the kite that might have led to wings.
Nor did he windsurf, though a sail that swings
upon a board seems simple — in the light
of hindsight. Most dreams soar aloft at night,
only to fall at our awakenings.
When Orville Wright told Curtiss it would take
a hundred years for wings to cross the sea,
the one who dreamed the shape that flew was wrong.
Curtiss took but eleven years, just long
enough to test the patent fallacy —
and prove that some dreams deepen when we wake.
— Kit Stokes
The 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight will be
celebrated on Dec. 17. People’s Poetry wants you to share your thoughts on what’s
happening in Springfield today — in poetic form. Poems on any subject will be
considered, but ones that deal with issues of local interest are encouraged.
Send yours to Books and Poetry Editor Corrine Frisch c/o Illinois Times,
P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705, or to caf1025@aol.com with “People’s Poetry” in the subject line. (Please limit your submissions to
poems of 14 lines or less.)
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2003.
