The editors of Red Claw Press are sad to hear of the passing of Kildare Dobbs, whose poetry graced both of our anthologies. Here is his wonderful poem, “Dream Poetry,” from Seek It: Writers and Artists Do Sleep:
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Dream poetry
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Kildare Dobbs
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Reading calls for a book and plenty of light.
Writing (someone wrote) you can do in your head –
but can you remember the precise language,
the very words, could you swear to them in court?
Listen, last night in sleep I wrote a great work,
with such sweet harmonies it would have melted
the Antarctic ice-cap, raised the seas and drowned out
the Maldive islands, without hurting a soul;
and wherever the sound was heard there arose
herbaceous borders of exotic flowers.
I tell you this was to rival Homer, Rumi, Dante, Shakespeare,
but to my grief was gone when I was awake.
Like dew on grass, like the echo of a song.
As Germans say, What one has in black and white,
That can a man take home and read again.
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Seek It: Writers and Artists Do Sleep is a collection of poems, stories, essays and artwork inspired by our conflicted relationship with sleep and the night. In the pages of Seek It, lovers find pleasure and pain, insomnia leads its many sufferers to get creative, exhausted new parents struggle through their days, a rural anaesthetist confesses his near misses, the dead make their presence felt, and a man who works the graveyard shift in a convenience store has a particularly tough night.
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Seek It: Writers and Artists Do Sleep features the work of:
Amy Ash • Gillian E. Batcher • Deanna Benjamin • Susie Petersiel Berg • Karen Berry • Tanya Besedina • Ann Reisfeld Boutté • Matthew Brennan • Allan Briesmaster • Holly Briesmaster • Marysia Bucholc • Lauren Camp • Michael Chouinard • Robert Colman • Ginny Lowe Connors • Mlaz Corbier • Lynda Curnoe • Sion Dayson • Matthew Dexter • Kildare Dobbs • Liz Dolan • Theresa Donnelly• Susan G. Duncan • Melissa Ferguson • Kate Marshall Flaherty • Laurette Folk • Stan Galloway • Keith Garebian • yaqoob ghaznavi • Jack Granath • Dr. Sam Greenspan • David Groulx • Atar Hadari • Colin D. Halloran • Sterling Haynes • Owen Heitmann • Susan L. Helwig • Frances Hern • dee Hobsbawn-Smith • Lori A. Howe • Sheila Hassell Hughes • Marvyne Jenoff • Carolyn T. Johnson • Maggie Kast • Timothy Kercher • Monica Klement • Tricia Knoll • Donna Langevin • Diane Lefer • Jay Samuel Lefler • marilyn lemon • Anne Lévesque • Hayley Linfield • Nathan Alling Long • Anne Lukin • Jeanette Lynes • Dave Margoshes • Bruce Meyer • Nancy Anne Miller • kjmunro • Sharon Lask Munson • James B. Nicola • Loretta Obstfeld • Debbie Ouellet • Grace E. Paterson • Marilyn Gear Pilling • Mira Pinkus • Kristen Radtke • Patricia Smith Ranzoni• Stan Rogal • Kate Rogers • Lorelie Gerwing Sarauer • Susan Savage • Adam Jeffries Schwartz • Niya Sisk • Alice Slater •Joan-Dianne Smith • John Stocks • Marjorie S. Thomsen • Naomi Beth Wakan • Ran Walker • Carol Whittome • Christopher Woods • Eddy Yanofsky • Patricia Young • David Zieroth
Editors: Kim Aubrey • Elaine Batcher • K.D. Miller • Ruth Parker
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To order a copy of Seek It: Writers and Artists Do Sleep, please send a cheque or money order for $20 plus shipping ($5 within Canada, $10 to the U.S., $18 for overseas shipments) to:
Red Claw Press
PO Box 45001
2482 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario M4P 3E3
Canada
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