Today I was wandering downtown in the rain when I found a book on the sale rack of our local bookstore titled, Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming by Catherine Shainberg. Right there three of my favorite things merged into one: Kabbalah, Dreaming and … a bargain!

Then, three pages in I found this quote:

The poet’s eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

— Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

Another favorite: A Midsummer Night’s Dream is among my favorite Shakespearean plays (King Lear is the other). The connection between dreams, poetry, and imagination was making this $6.39 purchase into a treasure trove already … and then I read on to the author’s reflection on the quote, and by that point I was really happy I’d ventured out in the rain to do a little shopping. (Oh, and did I mention I had a Groupon, too? A real dream come true!)

Poets flourish at precisely this juncture between the imaginal and the verbal. To them the dream world is primal; verbal language is the servant of the dream.

— Catherine Shainberg, Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming, p. 3

Okay, time to stop blogging and continue reading, dreaming and who knows, maybe I’ll write some poems, too …

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Learn more about the connection between dreams and poetry and write poems inspired by your dreams in a safe, welcoming environment.

Register for:

“The Poetic Dream”

Sat. Sept. 19, 2015, 2-5 p.m.,

Patchwork Farm Retreats in Westhampton, MA.

Click to register now or send $40 (check payable to Patchwork Farm) to: Patchwork Farm Retreat, P.O. Box 60066