Copyright © 2020 by Dan Lukiv. Except for non-commercial use in the classroom, no part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or through any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without written consent from the author.

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Do any dreams stand out in your memory? Likely, the answer is yes. I have written down some of my most memorable dreams as poetry. That means I have chosen only parts of the dreams that hold the most poetic potential (Lukiv, 2020). Those parts contain concentrated language (Drury, 2020) that focuses the reader's attention on strange imagery. "In most dreams, the dreamer cannot control what is happening, there is little logical thought, and events occur that could not happen in real life" (Dream, 2020, para. 3). I relate to that statement, especially as I read The REM Poems.

Why do I call them The REM Poems? REM stands for rapid eye movements. During the REM stage of sleep, apparently, according to brain wave monitoring, this is "when most dreams occur. If awakened during REM sleep, the person is likely to recall details of the dream" (Dream, 2020, para. 5). One strange thing about REM sleep, which "European researchers call...'paradoxical sleep'" is that "a study of the brain waves reveals that the brain is functioning as if the body were awake" (What Did That Dream Mean?, 2020, p. 27). Weird? Yes. I think so. And so are these poems.