March 14, 2026

Open Ground, Where Words Return, Dream Origins, Line Mechanics, Bold Voices, and More.

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Welcome to The Dreamers Issue. Today’s poem, Green Dreams, follows me as a traveler on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. The jungle, primates, and a road to the Pacific frame the journey. Yet beneath the surface, the poem carries a quiet structure of its own, perhaps even a hidden phrase suggesting dreams stand against emptiness.

This issue also supports the notion that dreamers have long shaped language and history. Abraham Lincoln used epistrophe in the Gettysburg Address when he repeated the phrase “of the people.” Arthur O’Shaughnessy later gave artists their famous identity when he wrote, “We are the dreamers of dreams.”

Further in, you will find a short evaluation of today’s poem and a discussion of acrostics. I close with Phillis Wheatley, whose life and poetry remind us that dreaming has always required courage.

Keep imagining what the rest of the world has not yet seen.

Jason
​jasonzguest.com​

In this issue:

Featured Poem Green Dreams Devices Epistrophe Echoes Where Dreams Begin Craft Inside Today's Poem Testaments Phillis Wheatley

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Featured Poem

Green Dreams

Green Dreams​
by Jason Z Guest

Against the beauty of a highland trail
Green scapes, below, delight the scanning eye,
An airstrip hides beyond that jungle glow,
Inside Carrillo’s crescent, sweet delight.
Nearby, the throaty Howler signal sounds,
Suggesting watchful troops above the ground
To warn a distant engine taking flight.
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Nicoya slides from heaven back to sea
On declination to my nesting turf,
The thread, Camino a Bosques, soon frees
Her knots into the scallop-watered surf.
In comfort of a fertile, flowing ground,
‘Neath stars that frame this Costa Rican crown,
Green dreams I dress with nothing but her worth.

More Poetry →

Devices

Epistrophe

Epistrophe is the rhetorical device of repeating a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences. Unlike anaphora, which calls for attention at the start, epistrophe lingers in the mind, creating a gentle echo that resonates long after the reader moves on. I think of it as the literary version of a refrain in music. Quietly, it reinforces the dreamer’s world through repetition. The reader, much like the dreamer, feels the solitude and the slow sense that what is unfolding was always meant to be.

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The epistrophe works beautifully in The Dreamers Issue because it mirrors the rhythm of dreaming itself: the mind returns, again and again, to a central truth, lingering at the edges of consciousness until it reshapes the world.

Here, use of the phrase “the people” is repeated at the end of successive clauses to reinforce the idea that our nation’s foundation and future belong to the people themselves.

— Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, delivered at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863

Lincoln admired Scottish poet Robert Burns, whose writings about ordinary people and equality strongly influenced Lincoln’s outlook. Learn more here.

Lincoln and Burns →

Echoes

Where Dreams Begin

On this day in 1844, Arthur O’Shaughnessy was born in London. His poem Ode would go on to give the world some of the most famous lines ever written about the artist and their imagination. My observation is that O’Shaughnessy identified dreamers (the poets, composers, painters, and authors) as not only observers of our world, but the quiet architects of it, shaping the course of everything that follows.

His poem suggests that every civilization begins first in the mind of someone willing to take chances and push the envelope. Empires rise and fall, cultures shift, and generations evolve because somewhere down deep, a dreamer first dared to dream of a different future. O’Shaughnessy reminds us that creative work often happens far from the spotlight, yet its influence lives on.

Here is a brief excerpt from Ode that speaks directly to the power of the dreamer:

— Arthur O’Shaughnessy, “Ode,” Music and Moonlight (1874)

Enjoy this short, interpretative film of "Ode," bringing the poem to life visually.

Watch Now →

Craft

Inside Today's Poem

Today's original poem Green Dreams is written in a poetic form known as an acrostic, where the first letters of each line spell a hidden word or phrase. In this poem, the opening letters form the phrase "Against Nothing." Acrostics have been used for centuries as a way to hide meaning inside a poem.

Here the phrase quietly suggests that dreams stand against emptiness. Dreaming becomes a way people imagine possibility where there might otherwise be none.

The poem follows my travels through the Nicoya landscape of Costa Rica. Jungles, howler monkeys, an airstrip, and the road to the Pacific appear along the way. The journey descends from highland trail to the ocean and finally to the stars above. In that quiet setting, I reflect on the value of place and dress my "green dreams" in the worth of the land itself.

This poem also moves in a loose iambic rhythm, where most lines follow the familiar pattern of unstressed followed by stressed syllables, creating a steady forward motion. That rhythm feels like the act of walking a trail, which suits a poem grounded in travel and landscape.

I also wanted to control the structure, so you'll see that the poem is written in two seven-line stanzas, a form sometimes called a septet. This gives the poem a feeling of symmetry, almost like two viewpoints of the same place.

Ultimately, the poem’s deeper architecture lies beneath the surface. For more insight on acrostics, click below to read a deeper study by The Poetry Foundation.

Acrostics →

Testaments

Phillis Wheatley

An enslaved poet in Boston, Phillis Wheatley faced scrutiny by a world determined not to believe her voice. Before her first book of poetry could be published, she was subjected to a formal examination by prominent men who doubted that a Black woman could ever produce poetry. Ironically, this very challenge also took place on this day in 1772.

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​Though their criticism was absolute, the world could not deny her. Wheatley's very imagination stood as a testament to our dreamers. She showed that determination can keep talent and imagination alive, even under oppression.

— Phillis Wheatley, “Thoughts on the Works of Providence,” Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (London: A. Bell, 1773)

Explore the poetry of Phillis Wheatley's and her amazing story.

Wheatley on Amazon →