A dream in reality's clothes - TaNia Donatto

Sun has set and I set my head down to sleep.

I see that the motion picture is reminiscent

Of exiting existing darkness and

Entering paradise. Sometimes I don’t dream.

Sometimes, I can only wish I was.

The crimson curtain falls to reveal another act,

A script of my memories and a cast of my people.

A freckled face tells me I am beautiful.

Another’s sly grin whispers and says I will

Never find love. I am slipping from my body’s steeple

As actors turn apparent fiction into what I consume as fact.

Sometimes, I can only wish I was

Entering paradise. Sometimes I don’t dream

Of exiting existing darkness, and

I see that the motion picture is reminiscent.

Simple brown eyes still shut. And they never see sleep.

TaNia Donatto is a poet from Southeast Texas and a current undergraduate student at Stanford University in California. She intends on majoring in engineering but has a deep love for poetry. Her other interests include dance, theater, learning from people's stories, and accessibility in education. She also has work forthcoming in NECTAR POETRY, Capsule Stories,and 433 Magazine, and she can be found on Instagram and Twitter @taniadonatto_.