Author: Reena Saxena

Rod Serling said, “You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension: a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.  You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.  You’ve just crossed over into… the Twilight Zone.”  This is a state of surrealism, where things that should not make sense seem to do so. When you arrive here, you are likely to encounter strange phenomenon and bizarre events.  The Twilight Zone is a mental state between reality and a world of fantasy, or an illusion that resides between light and shadow, and is somewhere between science and superstition.

The Twilight Zone featured a collection of tales which range from comic to tragic, they often had a wicked sense of humor and an unexpected twist.  They could be weird and scary, as they explored humanity’s hopes, despairs…

I am powerful in every way
Way to go, as my parents say
Say what I feel and believe
Believe that I could sashay

I’ve always been, since I was born
Born the second but acted like first
First to leave the country and explore
Explore and be well versed

I think I’m a good wife and mother
Mother to the son who’s left the nest
Nest of love and now he’s married
Married and now on their own quest*

(c) ladyleemanila 2017

* Loop Poetry is a poetry form created by Hellon. There are no restrictions on the number of stanzas nor on the syllable count for each line. In each stanza, the last word of the first line becomes the first word of line two, last word of line 2 becomes the first word of line 3, last word of line 3 becomes the first word of line…

What is it that makes you feel powerful? What is that strength which makes your time on this planet worthwhile?

The word powerful is not one I would use about myself as I wouldn’t think of myself in that way. There were times when as a teacher I had to wield some power in the classroom to survive what were some days an ordeal.

I tend to see myself more as a person who tries to be there in the moment, supporting others and trying to understand what it is that is going on.

An example is my attitude to my children. They are a diverse lot of people with as many ideas contrary to mine as you can imagine. But early on I decided the best way for me to be in their lives was to be there for them. Our children never do everything we might like them…

I feel empowered when I can say something that is witty.  I work as a substitute teacher which requires me to inform the students of the lesson plan that their teacher left for them.  The other day my students finished their assignment and there was still time left in the class, so I told them a story from my first book, ‘Man’s Footprint in Water’.  They had just watched a short video about Jamestown, John Smith and Pocahontas and I told them that I had another story about the Virginia colony and I asked them if they wanted to hear it.

I told them this story from my book.  In the fall of 1609, several hundred European settlers were struggling to survive on swampy Jamestown Island, as they were riding out a brutal drought and hoping for boatloads of supplies to arrive.  By the following spring, after a horrific…