Description

"Poetry puts language into a dream state, thereby reassuring itself of the impinging realities." With this line, which is central not only to Durs Grünbein's poetic project but to his aesthetics as a whole, literary critic Michael Eskin begins his introduction to the poet's dream work. By sharing parts of his meticulous dream index, complete with notes, Grünbein remembers a multitude of dreams-of his daughters swimming out of their apartment like mermaids, of a picnic with his parents next to a bloodbath in Cameroon, of a seductive woman on a plane, of a toad with palatal eyes. "Dreams endow existence with poetic density, arming us with the impenetrability of the moment," notes Grünbein. Gestures are the most indecipherable element in dreams-a wink of the eye can turn the whole drama in a completely new direction. The notebook "Dream Index" draws from lived experience and brings poetry back into daily life.
Durs Grünbein ( 1962) is a poet, translator, and essayist living in Berlin.
Author Michael Eskin is co-founder and Vice President of Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc., New York.