night void messages by Edward Smallfield

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How did you come to write night void messages?

I’m always looking for new projects, and especially for projects that will force me out of my habits and comfort zone and make me write in a different way.

The night void messages project was appealing because it forced important changes in the way that I work and also because I thought it might help me remember more dreams and to be more attentive to my dreams.

The rules were simple. I couldn’t invent any dreams—I could only write dreams that I remembered. And I couldn’t add anything. I couldn’t smooth over the disjunctive logic of the dream, or create any narrative except what I remembered, and usually what I remembered did not make much of a coherent narrative.

Two things were especially difficult. First, I like to write, and I like to have control over when and how I write. I couldn’t write a night void message unless I remembered a dream. And I believe in complete freedom in writing, and letting the imagination run wild. But I couldn’t write freely. I couldn’t add to the dream, even when that seemed like the right thing to do.

If I hadn’t been working on other projects at the same time, the night void messages would have driven me crazy.

What was/is your process for this project?

I move directly from the dream to the poem without an intervening step of prosing the dream and then writing the poem. I usually write the poem in my head in bed immediately after waking and remembering the dream. When the poem is finished, I get up and go into another room and write the poem down. I think that’s the best way to remain true to the dream, without letting waking thoughts unconsciously intrude.

Has doing this work changed your experience of dreaming and remembering dreams?

I remember many, many more dreams now. I think the dream process changes based on its own logic and whatever is happening in my life. I don’t think writing the night void messages has changed the dreams themselves. It has just helped me to remember many more dreams.

What’s been challenging for you with this work?

Going through periods when I don’t remember dreams! And, of course, putting the poems together, and trying to decide which night void messages will be interesting/valuable for a reader.

What have you learned with this project?

I’ve learned to do less. I’ve learned that often the most minimal means of expression best expresses whatever wants to be expressed. I’ve learned—I’m trying to learn—not to embellish.

I want to stress the fact that the night void messages are an ongoing project, and that I would welcome readers’ frank thoughts about the poems. If you have anything you want to share, please email me—hearing from you would be extremely helpful.

What else are you working on these days?

In terms of ongoing projects, I want to begin by mentioning a recent publication. A chapbook, sargasso, recently appeared from Kristy Bowen’s marvelous dancing girl press. sargasso is an erasure of Jean Rhys’s wonderful novel, Wide Sargasso Sea. There’s always a gap between writing and publication, but the final process of bringing the chapbook into print is something in itself, and has definitely been a part of my thinking about writing recently.

I’m also working on an ongoing (very ongoing, very long) project called family recipes which is more or less involved with the intimacies of a relationship and the subtleties of daily life. What I’ve written is already way too long and shows no signs of stopping, so at some point lots of subtraction needs to happen.

Finally, I’ve recently finished a piece called il libro dei sogni (based on Federico Fellini’s great book with the same title). The project is about the size of a chapbook, but I haven’t looked it over yet to see what I really think of it. Fellini’s book is mostly drawings, but it does include a lot of Italian, so I’ll have to wrestle with the question of how much Italian I can include in a project that’s written for English speaking readers.

Download chapbook

You can purchase Edward’s books here, at Small Press Distribution, and his chapbook sargasso at Dancing Girl Press and Studio

And read him online here, at periodicities, at talking about strawberries all of the time, and at your impossible voice.