Summer 2013
Dear Arsenic Lobster,
We realize that your dreams are unique; no other lobster can have your background, your emotions, or your experiences. Thus, your own dreams can only be connected to your own “reality.” With this in mind, it is important to draw from personal life and experiences when interpreting a dream.
Once you have an understanding of your dreams, it has the power to unify the body, mind, and spirit. You could discover your true self.
Dreams: Interpretations
Camille Hugret: The man next door kept his bed in the wall /and played the violin. The notes crouched /then swelled like the blood-bursting ticks /we pulled from our legs.
Interpretation: A violin symbolizes that you are a channel, a medium and that you can communicate with spirits. To dream that you pull ticks from your body is a sign that you’ll be able to defend your work. Camille, you’re a high priestess, a true poetess. Your wordplay is revered.
Claire Molek: I stare at the photos, I want you again and again, I want you to think about it forever.
Interpretation: If you see photographs in your dreams, it is a sign of approaching deception. Truly Claire, your poems are filled with half-truths. We’re all amazed by your prestidigitation. You’re a temptress we couldn’t resist.
Andrew Aulino: a barred window, mute engine,/patient birds around the bridge.
Interpretation: If you dream of barred windows it suggests that you are feeling trapped or frustrated. Birds in dreams are associated with freedom and plans for the future. When you dream of bridges, this could foretell a transition in your life. Andrew, you’re at the beginning of a great literary adventure and we look forward to following your flight.
Risa Deneberg: I try to kill my mother with a wooden spoon.
Interpretation: Mothers in dreams usually invoke powerful emotions. If you are dreaming about killing your mother with a spoon, you may be addressing some real life issues or concerns. Indeed, Risa you’re a master at addressing real life and death in poetry. Your chapbook, what we owe each other, is deathly profound.
Adam Deutsh: I left her, barely alive/up in the rental, studying/our physics above the garage.
Interpretation: If you dream someone you know is barely alive, you’ll have good news and happiness (why not?). Dreaming physics is a prediction that you will pay close attention to your work. Adam, this clearly means the dog days are over. In your case, Karma is a good thing. We’re honored to share some small space with you.
Kelly Boyker: It was strange, as if last night’s dough/had risen in our mouths/festering on our tongues/smothering until we realized/that there was no more breath.
Interpretation: Seeing dough in your dream is an omen of good health and prosperity and you’re about to have guests whom you like. A tongue is related to pleasure and new experiences and is a sign of future professional success. You’re already a success at everything you do. Kelly, your future is blazing!
Laura Madeline Wiseman: We scratched at them to stop./So they pinned us to the ground,/groaning, taking turns.
Interpretation: To scratch others in your dream denotes that you will be ill tempered with others. You feel used or that circumstances have been forced upon you. Laura, you’re our anti-interpretation (of course), your voice is strong with those of us who are victims. You’ve helped us overcome great obstacles. You transform tragedy into art. You’re a badass; you give us courage and we aspire to be more like you.
Nandini Dhar: Her servant-daughter’s fingers, thin like bristles/mutating into claws, gashing into the story./That was what it was like to try to become a bear.
Interpretation: If you change into a bear in your sleep, you will defeat your enemies. Nandini, the spell is broken. You’re free to stop dreaming of ghosts. Your words crack ground—break the sound barrier.
Rich Ives: a marble in the dying wheat/it could fall no farther and rose
Interpretation: To see marbles in your dream symbolizes your perceptiveness, insightfulness and observation. Dreaming of dying wheat means a shedding of old skin. Rich, your poem “[One Eye Opened]” is certainly precise, generous and formally fresh—quite the masterpiece. It is easy to find one’s self lost in it.
Kate Magnolia Glasgow: A burning stick of incense in my mouth, wind kept in my freezer.
Interpretation: Dreaming of burning incense means you have good friends and encouraging future prospects. Dreaming about a freezer means you know something about sadness. Kate, your illuminating poems are filled with tension and contradiction and in every way, you and they have a promising future. Your poems know something of sadness.
Robin Wyatt Dunn: Mirage dream patience dance in the vacuum,/So beautiful. Baby, go ahead, fire:/And know we are the trace and the grace/Of our distant makers,/We are little lattice-keepers,/Stretching towards foreign suns.
Interpretation: To dream of a vacuum suggests you may be experiencing a void in your life. But dancing in a dream portrays integration, or two sides of you. What could be more encouraging than self-replicating? Robin, you’ve a perplexing (if not also complex) way to fill the void. We’re intrigued by My Name Is Dee and cannot wait to read more of your work. Avoid the death star.
Have a dream for us to interpret? Snuggle down you sleepers! Take your long sips of arsenic and then dream the dreams of lobsters.
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Susan Yount
Editor & Publisher, Arsenic Lobster Poetry Journal
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