Complex Sleep

Contents

c o n t e n t s Imaginary Synonyms 1 Squint 3 World Jelly 9 A Northern Eros 33 Ink Drop 37 An Emperor’s Nostalgia 49 “Complex Sleep” 64 Timeless 100 A number of these writings were previously published or excerpted in the following journals: “Imaginary Synonyms”: Hambone; “Squint”: Damn the Caesars; “A Northern Eros”: Verse; “Ink Drop”: Word for/Word; “An Emperor’s Nostalgia: a Dozen for Leigh”: Mandorla, O Poss; “Complex Sleep”: Backwards City, Filling Station, H_NGM_N, The Hat, and Talisman; and “Timeless”: Drunken Boat. World Jelly was published as a chapbook by Effing Press. Praise to Scott Pierce. “Complex Sleep” was published as a chapbook in Black Warrior Review Vol. 32, #2. This book was written in the companionship of Nic Pizzolatto, Tim Van Dyke, and the Lucifer Poetics Group. Additional thanks to Ben Doyle for his patience, friendship, and judgment. a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s Further, why do we say that the word “tree”—spoken or written—is a symbol to us for trees? Both the word itself and trees themselves enter into our experience on equal terms; and it would be just as sensible, viewing the question abstractedly, for trees to symbolize the word “tree” as for the word to symbolize the trees. This is certainly true, and human nature sometimes works that way. For example, if you are a poet and wish to write a lyric on trees, you will walk into the forest in order that the trees may suggest the appropriate words. Thus for the poet in his ecstasy—or perhaps, agony—of composition the trees are the symbols and the words are the meaning. He concentrates on the trees in order to get at the words. But most of us are not poets, though we read their lyrics with proper respect. — Alfred North Whitehead complex sleep ...