The Daily Glance
Bill Lavender's While Sleeping concerns daily events and thoughts, but we're told in an introduction that they deal with sleep and writing. We don't know who is sleeping in the book, and Lavender plays with us there. Since we are forewarned that the book deals with sleep, we have to wonder about the "events" in the book. What is a dream? Is language just dreaming? Lavender explores how language and sleep are related by just exploring daily things. Actually, the book feels like a poetic dairy told by a speaker with an open and a sarcastic personality. As in Lavender's other works, the poems are easy to sit with--they feel comfortable like an older, sometimes snarky friend who nevertheless is brilliant.
Sunrise, blank, over a form
is it words or that I'm after.
the shadow of my hand
a noise in the kitchen that isn't the cat.
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