Norfolk-born poet Leah Larwood launches an evocative debut collection about dream and sleep today. Here, she explains how lucid dreaming inspired Oneironaut
Since adolescence, Norwich-born poet Leah Larwood has been a lucid dreamer, and this nocturnal pursuit has inspired many of her poems – including her first collection with Indigo Dream Publishing, after winning the Indigo First Collection Competition 2024. In Oneironaut, Leah has used dream incubation techniques, or else lucid dreams, to develop this metaphysical and cyclical book of poetry that starts by entering the hypnogogic (first stage of sleep) before diving into vivid dreams, nightmares, insomnia and lucid dreams. After a spell of nocturnal shadow work, the poems wake via the hypnopompic state (final phase of sleep) before surfacing in the ‘fertile void’ of a new day.
Many poems in the collection have been inspired by the concept of lucid dreaming, which is when a person has awareness that they are dreaming and are able to exert some influence over the dream. The concept of lucid dreaming dates back thousands of years and features in a wide range of cultures and religions including Tibetan Buddhism as ‘dream yoga’, and within modern western psychology. Leah has even used her own lucid dreams to find inspiration for these poems.
The author of Oneironaut explains: ‘Our dreams are evocative and mysterious little messages that can sometimes be ignored. This poetry collection honours our dreaming world and gives the unconscious mind a voice. It’s even possible to come up with ideas for poems, stories and other creative pursuits in a lucid dream, and some of these poems have been inspired by such scenarios.’
Leah Larwood is an award-winning poet, a freelance writer and a gestalt psychotherapist in the advanced stages of training. She has an MA in creative writing and has been widely published by several literary magazines. Many of her poems have won or been placed in prestigious poetry competitions.
Oneironaut is published today (Friday October 25, 2024) by Indigo Dreams Publishing. Oneironaut is available at all good book shops, including the Book Hive in Norwich and Waterstones Norwich, from Leah Larwood and Indigo Dreams Publishing. For more about Leah’s work go to: leahlarwood.co.uk.
Featured images – supplied
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