The book of the mind

One of my favourite portions of The Blue Planet shows what life is like a kelp forest. The camera slowly descends into the ocean, and although most of the earth is water, the deep looks like an alien world. Gillian Clarke's poem "Insomnia" reminds me of everything I love about that shot in her description of falling soundly asleep. And then there is the delight of the language of wakefulness--imagine saying "I cannot let fall the book of my mind" rather than "my mind is racing, I can't sleep."

 

"Woman reading a book in bed" by simpleinsomnia is licensed under CC BY 2.0 .

Insomnia

Afternoon sleeping is best. The fallen book;

sunlight on walls; green leaves

on white curtains are emblematic woods.

The stone-deep drop from consciousness

into cold darkness, till the rope jerks.

The fronded upper reaches are passed,

to a leafless, sunless, soundless dark.

At night I listen to clocks, could walk

the streets, too excited by night 

sounds for sleep, cannot let fall

the book of the mind.

~ Gillian Clark, Letter from a Far Country (Manchester, 2006)

Clarke's work is taught as part of GCSE and A Level examinations in the United Kingdom, and she has a wonderful website of her work, including recordings and text of many of her poems, which can be found here.