Space Gun by M Chambers (Lucent Dreaming Issue 8)

Bright nebulas light the round eyes,
As the hand boy-stretches towards the shelf.
Fingers close lovingly round the prize,
Not plastic and paint but space-hardened metal.
Not lights and sounds, but endless adventures.
The shop vanishes; he is gone.
He is leaping across deserts towards a fabled city, on the edge of a silver sea.
Wrestling with monsters, gargantuan, unspeakable,
In the raw visceral depths of some alien world.
“Leave that!” says father irritably,
“Don’t break things!”
The black ink of the ordinary world
cuts swathes across the rainbow-hued page.
Slowly, oh so slowly, the gun lowers to the shelf.
Regretful fingers unclasp.
Heart pumping, all of boyhood yearning.
For lost galaxies, siren star systems;
Child-fuelled planetary dreams.

M Chambers started writing when he was at School, going on to be a professional archaeologist. He was the runner up in a Short Story competition at his workplace. This encouraged him and he started sending off to competitions. His short stories have been long and short listed in a number of competitions and one or two have won prizes. His poetry has also been published. He is now retired and lives on the edge of the North York Moors, where he attempts to grow things in a tiny back yard.

Buy issue 8 today.

Lucent Dreaming is an independent creative writing magazine publishing beautiful, imaginative and surreal short stories, poetry and artwork from emerging authors and artists worldwide. Our aim is to encourage creativity and to help writers reach publication! Subscribe to Lucent Dreaming now, support us on Patreon and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.