When Susan Marie and I first started talking about creating an arts journal from the work we do with dreams I was excited by the prospect of bringing my two worlds together. My world of the dreamwork and my world of poetry, which at the time, seemed miles apart.
Although I knew for me that my writing and artwork was deeply related to the dreamwork, that it was an extension of that place of discovery for me, and that a few others I knew also worked in this way, it felt, in me, like a lone phenomenon. As well, in the world of poetry, only a few journals were interested in a more introspective, spiritually edged poem; the non-associative, aloof poem was all the rage, it was sore reading.
I wondered, what would it be like to bring these two worlds together in a physical form? Did others feel alone in their work? What would it be like to read the writing of those involved in the dreamwork? Was there enough people out there creating really good writing out of their work with their dreams, and later when we opened our idea up to all the arts, paintings, music, to fill a journal? I was filled with excitement at the prospect of being a part of finding the answer to these questions. What we found was a bounty of really good work, work which is a delight to peruse as a collection in our first issue of Deluge.
Poetry, music, and painting have the ability to open the places within us that are rarely opened or rarely publicly opened. It is often a brave act to take that place of self-discovery where it meets the creative act and make a piece of art; it has been a privilege to be privy to the expression and discovery others have made in this way.
I hope that you enjoy what you find in Deluge. Come back to it, read it over, peruse between the covers, let the work open you in the way only it can.
With warm regards,
Karla Van Vliet
Co-Editor