Sick as a Norwich?

Dear readers,

When you get sick, do your powers of imagination improve? Does the world unhinge a bit? Do you still manage to write during your illness? Are you able to remember things as you perceived them later, when you've recovered? Do you ever wish yourself in this state? Do you try to recreate this state through the use of alcohol or other drugs? Have you ever done yourself mental harm, even as light as staying up for multiple days at a time, in pursuit of a line or image? Have you considered that all these things - the illness, the lack of sleep, the drugs - are ultimately ways to reduce consciousness?

Consider consciousness not as an additive but subtractive process. Your unconscious mind takes in vast amounts of data every second, so much that your conscious mind would overload attempting to keep track of it all (e.g. learning to walk is in other words the process of making walking an unconscious action - you can't concentrate on anything else until you transfer responsibility for walking away from your consciousness). Consider poetry as a type of verse that taps into the unconscious - whether using imagery, rhythm, or other elements, poetry works on more levels than the conscious mind can handle at once. Thus the power. Thus the separation from the popular world.

Reading assignments if you find yourself interested: Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich. The User Illusion by Tor Nørretranders.