March 29, 2012: Nancy O Graham: Somniloquy Cycle - Fairy Tales

NANCY O GRAHAM: SOMNILOQUY CYCLE – FAIRY TALES

The texts used in this series of somniloquies were the captions of illustrations in the Reader’s Digest Book of Fairy Tales.

Nancy Oarneire Graham creates somniloquies, or recorded sleeptalk, by repetitively reading a short text—whether from a children's story, a work of nonfiction, or her own dreams—until she begins to fall half asleep. In the twilight state between waking and sleeping, known as the hypnagogic state, visions, half-formed thoughts, and stray words begin to interrupt those read from the page, opening a window onto this borderland.

1. [TITLE] We climbed up a tree to escape the terrible snake.
2. [TITLE] Herrings and puddings streamed out of the house.
3. [TITLE] They rolled a snowball and shaped it into a head.
4. [TITLE] Suddenly she was sitting under a Christmas tree.
5. [TITLE] The boy read the conjuring book secretly.
6. [TITLE] The fox swam into the river with the gingerbread boy.
7. [TITLE] What has brought you here? asked the witch.
8. [TITLE] He galloped up the hill as if it were no hill at all.
9. [TITLE] A monster stepped noiselessly onto the rocks.
10. [TITLE] WISH SACK

[SOURCE TEXT]
One day, Ben met a funny old man with an old, black sack. “Good day,” said the man. “We men of the woods want to give you this wish sack. You can wish things into it.   Wish for something, then say Abba dabba, and what you wish for will be in the sack.” Thank you, said Ben.  “Well I do wish I had a new hat.  Abba dabba.”
—Benjamin Elkin, The Big Jump and Other Stories

Nancy Oarneire Graham's somniloquy-based poems and prose have appeared in print and online publications, including BlazeVOX, Café Irreal, Chronogram, Eratio, Invisible City, New Verse News, Pindeldyboz, Prima Materia, Listening in Dreams (by Carol Ione), and Water Writes (edited by Larry Carr). She has performed somniloquies as part of the Deep Listening Institute's Dream Festival in Kingston, New York. Her chapbook, somniloquies, is available from Pudding House Publications. She lives in New Paltz, New York with her family, Henry Lowengard, Raymond and Ada Graham Lowengard, and Pat Lavender Will, a rescued tabby.

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