The Dreaming Path

Welcome to the The Dreaming Path.

Daily posts are on the right

Poetry comes from a deeper connection to the feeling subconscious, not from the thinking mind

I returned to University (2020) to study Creative Writing and English Literature and am very much enjoying the course (although it’s been interrupted by ill health in 2023). I do not publish my University work here and that includes creative writing. I need to keep it more ‘under my hat.’ My poetry (when officially published) is now written under another name and in that name, I was shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize in 2022.

In February 2024 I went into hospital for a cardiothoracic operation which is on the main thoracic artery. I should have been home in about two weeks but whilst I was on the operating table I suffered three strokes which left me comatose for about two weeks, during which time I was living entirely in a deep and very realistic morphine dream. When I say the dreams were realistic I should also say they were pretty fantastical and often frightening but totally believable. To me they were the only reality. I could not tell that I was dreaming. I am still not sure if some parts really happened.

The strokes left me incapable of reading, writing or drawing which are my three main interests. My degree has also been delayed again.

A year later I can write and use my smartphone, which had become a complete mystery to me, and I have listened to Audible quite a lot but I’m able to read books again. I still cannot draw. My keyboard skills are a struggle. I used to like walking in solitude and it often inspired poetry but although I can walk I can’t go out alone.

April is poetry month, and I have not written a poem since my stroke last year. I’m not actually sure whether I can still write poetry but poetry month seems to be a good opportunity to test myself out and so I do intend to try and participate this year and I will post the results onto Dreaming Path regardless of their merits. We shall see. It’s an experiment.

If you like my writing you will find loads in my archives which go all the way back to 2014. (The archive drop-down is on the right and scroll down). I am not, by a long way, claiming they are all good and I have gone back and edited many of them since (without adding those changes here). This was formerly my poetry notebook and I didn’t just just publish what I thought were the best – I put everything on here.

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I began The Dreaming Path in 2014 as a place to share some of my poems. It has became a Writer’s Journal (where I included both the good and the bad). I now use it mainly as a place to review my past attempts and draw inspiration for further writing.

Driftwood  (on menu bar) is a random collection of this and that. Book recommendations included.

Travel Tales ~  travel tales and other ramblings

Writing Prompts (on menu bar) is exactly what it says it is ! I hope you find a bit of inspiration there.

Other Places ~ I took part in National Poetry Month in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. This means committing to writing a poem a day all through April. I skipped 2022 due to a heavy workload on my poetry that month for my degree. This year (2023) I have time again and have submitted this site at https://www.napowrimo.net/participants-sites/

see https://napowrimodreamingpath.wordpress.com/ for my previous contributions and NaPoWriMo

logo-napowrimo

My Amazon Author Page is listed as A.Gouedard (it’s actually my previous name). Now, when I send submissions to publishers, I use my current name and you may see that at the bottom of some of my poems.  These days I mostly post my work on a different blog (but I come here for NaPoWriMo each April). One of those poems was shortlisted for The Bridport Poetry prize in 2023.

I have been published by Three Drops from a Cauldron twice – three poems.

https://threedropspoetry.co.uk/2016/09/02/three-drops-from-a-cauldron-issue-two/#more-1107

https://threedropspoetry.co.uk/2016/03/18/seven-by-a-gouedard/

and also featured on druidcast (read by Eala Du)
http://druidcast.libsyn.com/druidcast-a-druid-podcast-episode-102 (under one of my pseudonyms – Moon Pryderi). The poem is about Rhiannon.

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© 2014 A. Gouedard and © A.Chakir 2023.  All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited without permission from the author. You may not, except with my express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system unless my authorship is clearly stated and there is a link to this webpage and my rights are reserved.

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A simple awen painting

25 thoughts on “The Dreaming Path”

  9. Greetings, Moon Pryderi,

    My name is Avellina Balestri (alias Rosaria Marie) and I have been greatly enjoying reading your writings on your blog “Dreaming Path.”

    I was wondering…might you possibly be willing to have some of your works (especially poetry and short stories) re-published on a magazine I edit called “The Fellowship of The King”?: http://www.thefellowshipoftheking.net

    It is a Catholic based magazine, but we have authors from all religions and backgrounds and we specialize in fantasy/Celtic type poetry and stories. Of course, if we published anything, we’d give you full credits and link back to this blog.

    So if you might be willing, please do let me know, either here or via my email: campionsbrag@aol.com

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  14. Hello! I am a composer and was very inspired by your work – Dream Cake. I would like to use it as a text in my latest work – may I have permission to do so? The piece I write will be featured in a concert, however I do not make any money from it as the concert is free of charge. I would love to hear from you soon!

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