Sleeping With Demons

by A.D. Winans. 2003. 20 pages. Mystery Island Publications, 384 Windward Way, Sacramento, CA. 95831. www.mysteryisland.net

Book Review by Michael Basinski

Reading, I wonders, always, what is it that lances the soul, tosses the noose about the heart’s neck, makes birds sing in solid winter and why don’t the trees give it up and why tirelessly the water goes about water’s business. And then I reading along and find a poem like one Winans titled Smell of Wolves. Allow me to write some of his lines: And when you look into the/ Mirror and see/ No reflection/ You will smell the/ Smell of wolves/ On your breath. All day long I try to imagine the smell of these wolves, and the sour/sweet? taste of wolf breath? And it permeates the room and the world and you have to lean back and laugh, loud and long, as India crashes into Asia and the sharp peaks of mountains rush up like licking blades to meet God’s neck.