Gardening season and its discontents
The poetry of planting a garden–and lines of verse Each summer I imagine that I will spend my days writing and gardening. That’s an idyllic combination – theoretically at least. Sadly, gardening is not my …
Losing Sleep Over Dreams
Hold fast to your dreams? On the first night of a weekend Dream Poetry workshop I offered to a group of writers, I suggested the participants try to remember their dreams. I offered them my standard instructions for improving …
Mooning Over the Moon
To moon is to be idle, and in love—it’s been rhapsodized over repeatedly–but could one more ode to that pearl in the night and the dreams it inspires possibly hurt?
Q&A: Working to Understand Dreams
Q: Do you have any suggestions for how I can work to better understand the messages contained within my dreams? Signed, Seeking Understanding A: Dear Seeking, Did you know that in my other life I’m …
Bunny Dreams: What does it mean when you dream of a pet?
When my daughter moved away a couple of years ago, she left her bunny with me—“for a couple of weeks,” so she said at the time. And so, I have become the keeper and companion …
Ever been kidnapped by a dreamer?
kidnap poem (after Nikki Giovanni) ever been kidnapped by a dreamer? i’m a dreamer and i’m gonna kidnap you gonna hypnotize your hypnogogic reverie put you in my archetype, my anima, my animus or maybe, …
Poetry and Dreams Make Good Bedfellows
Group mind During a recent “Poetic Dream” workshop, dreamers spent the afternoon reading and writing poetry that came from dreams. Toward the end of our session, I asked participants to discuss what they learned in …
I posted recently about my experience at a dream conference about creativity and dreaming. At that conference I presented a paper about the intersections between dreaming and creative writing. I explained that dream incubation is …
Dreams are perfect poems packed with symbols, puns, and perfectly spontaneous. So why do we feel obliged to edit and revise? {by me at age 23 … March 1986 journal … and yes, I did …
Haiku: The Earth-Friendly Poetic Form
Is one form of poetry “greener“, that is more environmentally friendly than, another? Today I will assert that Haiku is environmentally friendly poetry. Why? Well, for one-thing, this form is by its very essence sustainable: …