Durs Grunbein : Aus der Traum (Kartei)

"Poetry puts language into a dream state, thereby reassuring itself of the impinging realities." With this line, which is central not only to Durs Grunbein's poetic project but to his aesthetics as a whole, literary critic Michael Eskin begins his introduction to the poet's dream work.

By sharing parts of his meticulous dream index, complete with notes, Grunbein remembers a multitude of dreams-of his daughters swimming out of their apartment like mermaids, of a picnic with his parents next to a bloodbath in Cameroon, of a seductive woman on a plane, of a toad with palatal eyes. "Dreams endow existence with poetic density, arming us with the impenetrability of the moment," notes Grunbein.

Gestures are the most indecipherable element in dreams-a wink of the eye can turn the whole drama in a completely new direction.

The notebook "Dream Index" draws from lived experience and brings poetry back into daily life. Durs Grunbein (*1962) is a poet, translator, and essayist living in Berlin.Author Michael Eskin is co-founder and Vice President of Upper West Side Philosophers, Inc., New York.