My Imaginary Friend’s Three Imaginary Fears

Three Upright

“I fear that should you read my mind
You’ll find my mind ain’t there.
I fear I’m holding you behind.
Don’t leave to run off where
Nighttime’s dreamings cannot stand.
I must not hesitate.
I fear I’ll reach my outstretched hand
Too fashionably late.”

Linked to dVerse Quadrille hosted by Victoria Ceretto-Slotto with prompt word “fear”.  The pub opens at 3 PM EST.  Come join us!
Photo: “Three Uprights” by the author linked to K’lee and Dale‘s Cosmic Photo Challenge with theme “three”.
It looks like jasenphoto’s Tuesday Photo Challenge also has “Three” as a theme. So I am linking this as well

Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

126 thoughts on “My Imaginary Friend’s Three Imaginary Fears”

  5. I enjoyed the poem, specially the last fear”I fear I’ll reach my outstretched hand
    Too fashionably late.
    I liked most the picture, highlighting an object (part of a fence or porch?) that usually would pass unoticed.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Danik! The picture of a fence in a park overlooking a pond had three posts in it and there were also three fears. I tried to make this conform to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge which had the theme “three” and so I emphasized those posts. Glad to see you here!

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  8. RepTile SurViVing
    Mammal Fuzzy Hugs
    Neo Cortical reaSon
    TRapped
    iN
    priSoNs
    FuTures
    pasSings Fear
    More as LorE NoW
    And TruE.. FriEnd
    Frank.. Words arE FuN..
    And perHaps WortH A PreSent
    FutUrE PasSinG bY For ART..:)

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      1. Hehe..
        someone
        told me
        once before
        in Layman’s
        terms of made
        i.. should then..
        be.. diagnosed more
        with textromancy..
        And it’s true2.. A
        Psychiatrist
        offered
        me
        Epilepsy
        Drugs for
        Hypergraphia
        until i told him
        it makes me FeeL
        Good to do it and
        it gives the wife a break
        from an otherwise verbal flood
        for
        a sure
        Fredache
        as you might
        imagine2.. hAha..;)

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Ah, very nice word: “textromancy”. Words (and sounds) do have power over us. “Hypergraphia” is another interesting word. It is the first time I heard of it. And “Fredache”: delightful description. No need for cures for this. Best wishes and keep writing.

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  16. I love the idea of the imaginary friends too, and what a great fear to have I don’t think I would be over-fond of mind reading, I would probably be in endless trouble. My Emily had an imaginary friend for years who was blind and had a guide dog…it was an interesting period of our lives…I am glad she couldn’t mind-read.

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    1. We can sort of mind read each other’s minds when we imagine with empathy what the other might be feeling, although it is only a guess. Having a blind imaginary friend with a guide dog is being very creative. Thanks, Alison!

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  22. Frank, this is possibly one of the deepest puzzle pieces of the night. I will read this again. Right now, I’ll just say is stands original, and wonderfully ambiguous. High marks in my book!

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    1. Thanks, Charley! Imaginary friends are puzzling and trying to imagine what they are feeling may be a way for those who have them to practice empathy. I haven’t looked into the topic psychologically, but I might. It is sort of a way to make a cartoon image of interpersonal reality and say something about that reality obliquely. It would be deliberately ambiguous.

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      1. I had to read this twice… I thought you said you were going to do a cartoon. What a great idea! A cartoon that examines through situational humor the psychological ramifications of imaginary friends.

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        1. I’ve thought of doing cartoons, but I don’t keep drawing. I keep writing stuff and forget about the pencils. One day I’ll post a cartoon. I think imaginary friends are like cartoons, so just writing about them is creating a cartoon presentation of reality which contains real relationships.

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  24. A fine achievement, the rhyme schemes help the message. The photo is good enough. it could be used as a dVerse poetic prompt, Perhaps one day, you will host the Pub again, and use six of your images as prompts.

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    1. I will be hosting this Thursday. The theme will be “trimeter”. This poem was an attempt to write a poem that had some lines with three accented syllables per line. It is good idea to use photo prompts for these. Normally, I just focus on a different form. Thanks for the idea, Glenn!

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      1. Most welcome. I hadn’t thought about an imaginary friend sometimes letting us down, but now I realize there have been times I’ve asked mine to “take me with you”…and of course, that’s the one thing he cannot do…

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        1. I usually think of imaginary friends as muses or “my” intuition or where ever I get the next thing to say. I suspect we may think they can let us down, but it is likely our own failure to get the message.

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    1. It sort of depends on what one means by “imaginary friend” and “real”. An alternate word for imaginary friend could be “muse” or one’s “intuition” both of which can fail us at times. Do they fear failing us or are they us fearing that we will fail ourselves? Some don’t believe any of these words describe something real, more or less outside of us, let alone something that can have fears. Others think nothing else matters. There may be some truth in both positions.

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  36. An awesome one as well. Humorous in someways but also very real. The speaker fearing she’ll read his thoughts (none there). That she’ll leave him behind, that he has dreams but he reaches out to keep her and its too late! Real concerns!

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    1. Interesting that your daughter’s stuffed animal friends had fears. I was sort of guessing that an imaginary friend would be afraid of anything hoping to mirror our own fears in relationships. Thank you, Merril!

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    1. One thing I’ve found is to write with others. Most everything I post is linked to a group writing or photography prompt, sometimes more than one. In this post I write with the dVerse Poets as the poetry prompt and there are two photography prompts I link to as well. There are many of these prompts available, too many to write with all of them. Part of the fun is to find the ones you like best and write regularly with them. You are welcome to join any of these just by linking your post to theirs. To get the most advantage out of this you should also read and comment on the people who linked something with you. That takes time, but it gets you familiar with these other people and their blogs and that will give you ideas on where you want to take your blog. Best wishes!

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  46. Pingback: Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 68 – Dutch goes the Photo!

  50. I didn’t have imaginary friends as a child. Had to wait until I was an adult to understand how incredibly important they are and the rich gifts they bring. That said, I really like your poem.

    Elizabeth

    Liked by 1 person

    1. As a child I didn’t either, at least, to my recollection. I do find them rather nice now. They give one a humorous way to talk to oneself without a monologue. Thanks, Elizabeth!

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        1. Dragons are very interesting manifestations of imaginary friends or characters in one’s own story. We are probably more than our individual selves or awarenesses and are influenced in ways we don’t understand. Imaginary friends might be forms of reality. They might be more real than we are prepared to accept.

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  51. Absolutely, lol. I’ve been invited to chat with Sherry at Poets United, at the end of August. She asked me to outline my experiences with the dragons. It will be on a Monday, and I’ll try to remember to post it to Facebook. You might be interested?

    Elizabeth

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    1. Yes, I’m interested. I follow Poets United although I don’t link there often. I will look for the chat you will have with Sherry later this August. I only occasionally use Facebook. Do you have a Facebook page? I didn’t see it on your blog.

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  53. I love this poem. Frank. I used to have imaginary friends when I was a child. I was an only child and always wanted a brother or sister so thus the reason for my imaginary friends. Your poem brings on some great memories.

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    1. Thank you, Eugenia! I can see a child having an imaginary friend. I wonder to what extent we are separate as individuals. We seem connected and our thoughts may be connected as well with others. I think there may be a way to justify imaginary friends as real and not just internal to us as individuals, whatever individuals are defined to be.

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