Anatomy of an Idea: Dreamweavers

My approach to poetry is formal: usually I latch onto a clear speculative concept - a burst of images / ideas - that I want to express and find a form that suits it. The pattern of the form creates the result.

In this case, I chose a terzanelle, a nineteen line poem - three line stanzas and a quatrain to finish. The middle line of each stanza repeats as a third line of the next stanza, with the closing quatrain incorporating lines 1 and 3 of the first stanza as well. (For more info, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terzanelle)

Though it works loosely as a non-speculative metaphor for dreaming, Dreamweavers is actually set in a specific world of mine. I wanted to write a novel there, but I always have about a half dozen ideas, and this is one that keeps falling off the list. Anyhow, the basic concept is that the world is slowly dissolving, and that these dreamfolks record the dreams of ordinary people and spin them into new landmasses. Ergo - dreamweavers are the craftspeople, dreamcatchers are the gatherers.