night thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis

by Sarah Arvio

In this remarkable and unique work, award-winning poet Sarah Arvio gives us a memoir about coming to terms with a life in crisis through the study of dreams.

As a young woman, threatened by disturbing visions, Arvio went into psychoanalysis to save herself. The result is a riveting sequence of dream poems, followed by “Notes.” The poems, in the form of irregular sonnets, describe her dreamworld:  a realm of beauty and terror emblazoned with recurring colors and images—gold, blood red, robin’s-egg blue, snakes, swarms of razors, suitcases, playing cards, a catwalk. The Notes, also exquisitely readable, unfold the meaning of the dreams—as told to her analyst—and recount the enlightening and sometimes harrowing process of unlocking memories, starting with the diaries she burned to make herself forget. Arvio’s explorations lead her back to her younger self—and to a life-changing understanding that will fascinate readers.

An utterly original work of art and a groundbreaking portrayal of the power of dream interpretation to resolve psychic distress, this stunning book illumines the poetic logic of the dreaming mind; it also shows us, with surpassing poignancy, how tender and fragile is the mind of an adolescent girl.

Genres: Poetry, Memoir, Nonfiction, Psychology, Literary Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most extraordinary books I've ever read. Not only because of the form--though that is, as far as I know, unique: a section of poems, sonnets of a sort, followed by a prose piece that is part memoir, part, as the book's subtitle says, "notes." Even more surprising, though, and to me, moving, is the tremendous honesty of the book, its wisdom and its artistry combined. I both wanted to keep reading and wanted the book not to end; I wanted to stay inside its clarity, vision, for as long as possible. In a way that's an odd thing to write about a book which is, largely, about childhood abuse and the long, complex repercussions of that abuse. And yet the book is also so deeply redemptive. Partly because of its beauty and truth-telling, and partly because of its insistence that everything (dreams, words, memory, truth) really is deeply connected, its belief that we can, if we work hard, uncover those connections, and--if not heal, then emerge into a new, brighter, more spacious place--through the work of uncovering, and the work of making art.

[SLT · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could I not be enchanted by the premise of this book? Have you not heard me talk about my own “night thoughts” here? Is there a more fascinating topic? Sarah Arvio’s “night thoughts” are not the same as mine, however. Rather than those panicky thoughts in the moments between waking and sleeping, or that come to you in the dark sleeplessness that confronts you upon being awakened suddenly, she is talking exclusively about dreams. - See more at: http://dunceacademy.com/3520/night-th...

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Night Thoughts," by Sarah Arvio, is a thoughtful inquiry into trauma, dreams, and the work done in therapy to process an early childhood abuse. The first half of this book has seventy sonnets written from dreams. The second half has her notes from therapy that explore the early traumatic experience through dreams, sensation, language and color. It pulses with the energy of how the incident and the events around it reverberated through her life. She makes word associations that reflect on how she has been affected. This brief paragraph is an example: "The letter was my punishment, spreading the news of my shame like red paint." There is a long index in the back of the book; where you can find the many images, letter has six pages to refer to, one being a sonnet titled Letter. The sonnets are referred to in iterative mentions throughout the therapy sections as she makes associations.

In the intro she recommends reading the therapy notes start to finish, but she says the sonnets can be read out of order. I followed this suggestion because I found it easier to engage in the therapy notes, I was drawn in emotionally by the details of the trauma. And as in most traumatic memory from an early age, there is confusion as to what really happened, if it happened, and the not-knowing place in which we experience what is being done to us.

It was fascinating how the poems reflected her inner landscape. The therapy notes gave me the desire to look up the poems to follow her mind. After I finished the last half of the book I easily read the poems through from beginning to end. This book is the study of a mind. A woman's mind. And it shows how the ramifications of early sexual 'play' that boys do to girls can spread through a life, long into adulthood. Trauma is not unique to girls, I would never suggest that, but this book shows a woman's sensibility in how she processes, and with a male therapist she thanks in the book. This artistic hybrid book is like no other.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

night thoughts: 70 dream poems and notes from an analysis by Sarah Arvio is a poetry collection that defies convention in its cathartic purpose as a series of free-association dream poems with accompanying notes on those dreams from the poet at the time she was tackling some serious trauma. It is more than a collection of poems and notes about those dreams they capture, it is a memoir written as she uncovers some deeply traumatic events in her childhood as she was on the cusp of womanhood.

“It’s easy to forget how complex and intense are the thoughts of children, and how everlasting. I mean that the thoughts last in the mind, enacting their meanings, even when they seem to be forgotten.” (page 132)

Arvio’s notes are essential in many ways to the understanding of her dream poems, which are often surreal and disjointed. The notes help carve out her images and how they associate to one another and which dreams came to her in the same span of time. She breaks down her word choices for lines in the poems, the origins of words and how their meanings are uncannily related to the trauma she experienced and subsequently forgot. She also provides insight into the artwork that she saw and that reminded her of the trauma and how certain colors appear and reappear in her poems because of their relation to the trauma.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2013/04/n...

[Anna]

I initially picked up this book thinking it would be a funky recount of some funky dreams, but to my surprise and much to my lack of background research, it was not!

Arvio’s book is comprised of a set of poems recounting vivid, trauma induced dreams that slowly reveal what traumas her childhood self experienced and by extension, what traumas her adult self experience.

This set of poems were a quick read and the poems’ themes were easy to pick up on! I do wonder what would have happened to them and the overall themes of the collection if the poems’ forms were differentiated; each maintained a similar structure and style. This was likely a deliberate stylistic choice of the author, and I’m still parsing through as to what it means..

Overall, it was a good read! I may practice a similar sort of dream analysis in my poetic practice moving forward upon reading this ~

(I am not comfortable with rating works that discuss themes of trauma, so this has been left unrated.)

A quote that will stick with me after this reading:
“I want to make love with you on the porch
the shady porch with windows all around
& the maple trees all leafy all around” (pg. 13)

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Trauma smashes the mind: it stops us from thinking, feeling and remembering." (p.135)

"Memory preserves what happened in life and also what happened in the life of the mind." (p.82)

"Many poems behave like dreams, chasing associative patterns through the mind, using riffs and non sequiturs. They draw on the unconscious mind in their development of thought patterns. A poem can be like a dream, dancing around an idea and avoiding it." (p.77)

"After a trauma, the mind weaves a pattern around it, collecting events from any part of life--before, after--to create the mental puzzle that forms the obsessive fantasy, the phobic experience." (p.142)

"How surprising are the associate powers of the mind." (p.143)

[Shel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating exploration of dreams that results in some engaging poems — using repetition and portmanteaus. It was interesting to read about the author's intricate process, but the poems stand well on their own — art out of self-exploration.

[Elliot Chalom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the poetry, not so much the "notes"

Read my full review over at: http://2bitmonkey.wordpress.com/2013/...