Pillow Fights: Dream Poems from Another Life, by Crystal Braeuner

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

In the spring of 2007, an aspiring English teacher took a course that required her to keep a nightly dream journal, then draft poems based on the dreams. She was nearing the end of her undergraduate studies, transitioning into grad school, and engaged to a fantastic partner. She was also navigating a debilitating autoimmune disease, developing a severe case of impostor syndrome, and, through the process of dream work, confronting wounds inflicted by monsters whose masks were just beginning to slip.

Sixteen years later, the author stumbles across these poems on an old hard drive, and with some hesitation, decides to revisit them. After dusting them off and sanding down the rough edges, she finds something new. Nearly two decades later, she unearths an artifact from a past life and repackages with a bit more confidence, some hard-won clarity, and, perhaps, a little more grace toward her younger self. This is a book for anyone who dreams–nightmares, fantasies, and everything in between–and for those willing to peel back the layers of those bizarre nightly brain visits and use them to rewrite their own stories.

Crystal Braeuner is a lifelong resident of Knoxville, Tennessee. She is an occasional writer and a full-time teacher of English and Theatre at Gibbs High School. Crystal shares her home with her wonderful husband, Curt, and her two amazing children, Ben (5) and Talia (3). She has stepped on more plastic toys than she cares to admit, but the kids are cute, so it’s all good. Crystal loves coffee, memoirs, classic movies, comedy-horror, crafting, vintage clothing, fuzzy socks, live music, critters of all kinds, and inner child healing in the form of Animal Crossing and professional wrestling events.