The Book Of Nightmare - Four Comments

wonderful poem!

Adagio music ALWAYS helps. For the space of the forest where the rites are performed can only be understood through the music...the extension, the expansion works with it. The problem, as you clearly state, is the duration. What does it mean? Where will it end? Does it ever end? Once we were a company, but what are we now? Are the speaker stands in the forest, seemingly awestruck, I wonder if he begins to understand that is his complete purpose. Forget the striders. They just keep moving. :) Thanks Daniel for a wonderful and surreal journey of the soul. ;)

hey, daniel! i read this one with interest as i usually do your poems, but i need help or a key to understand it. as the poem opens with the mention of sumac turning red i thought you were taking me on a narrative in what we call the real world in a minnesota setting. but then... my mind went to fairy tale or dream interpretation where the forest, like the sea, is a symbol of the unconscious. which reminds me of two books by allan chinen, a jungian psychiatrist, i think you'd find fascinating if you don't already know them: once upon a midlife and in the ever after. is the forest death? but people come back... this symbolic poem of yours about a transition, about a moment before crossing a threshold of sorts, reminds me of my brief poem at the threshold. one thing i get and agree with—i don't want to be like one of those striders. glen

There's a proverb that says. A man's heart plans his way, but God directs his steps. Your a great writer Mr. Brick. God bless you.