OTHERWORLDLINESS

Real and imaginary - art by Luro

I was transported 

to another world

to another realm   

days don't preceed nights here

I was there 

but not fully "there"

a piece of me was here 

but the remaining pieces were elsewhere 

travelling through the metaphysical space 

I knew about what "otherworldliness" meant 

but it sounded too good to be true,

or too bad to be false 

I couldn't decide

so I didn't take sides

didn't want to. 

incoherent mutterings tickling my ears

My body— still but not all that still 

Between freezing and melting 

into nightmares 

into dreams 

abounding with hallucinations 

ethereal but not so ethereal 

stages of sleep paralysis 

my supine self was going through 

shuddering and shuddering 

involuntary movements had a hold on me

I wasn't sure which world I was in

the real or the unreal

It was hard to differentiate 

no sense of time or space 

no sense of "self"

I felt light yet heavy 

strong yet weak 

Either way, all of me wanted to leave soon 

but a part of me wanted to stay,

to stay trapped in a parallel world.