Poem Therapy May 27, 2011 at 2:38 : The Republic of Dreams - Michael Palmer

The Republic of Dreams
Michael Palmer

She lay so still that
as she spoke

a spider spun a seamless web
upon her body

as we spoke
and then her limbs came loose

one by one
and so my own


In many cultures the dreaming world is as much a reality as the waking world. If we're talking about what the brain believes to be reality, then yes, but if we're talking about the conscious self, well no.

Last night I dreamed of a man asking if "a criminal was in my house". Very strange until I consider that every part of a dream represents an aspect of my psyche. I wonder which aspect I've criminalized, who or what I've jailed.

The image I like best from Palmer's poem is that of the subject and speaker's limbs coming loose, suggesting that coming apart, literally at the joints, is as natural as breathing.

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