The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell was published in the early 1970s, a time of apocalyptic malaise and unmooring. He dedicated it to his two young children, Maud and Fergus, and the theme of death and rebirth is redolent throughout. This is arguably Kinnell’s best work, a poetic masterpiece, but one I read as a parenting manual. One poem’s title alone is a complete poetic work: “Little Sleep’s-Heading Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight.” This is the poem I’d remember each time one of my children (and now grandchildren) awoke crying from their sleep and in need of comfort. Kinnell’s poetry soothes the one who soothes the child, not with assurance of any kind, but with the reassurance that this repeating performance of cry and response is our shared human condition.
-Elizabeth, Assistant Director
