Sleeping, Waking, and Grimmer Things

From whiskey river:

Waking at 3 a.m.

Even in the cave of the night when you
wake and are free and lonely,
neglected by others, discarded, loved only
by what doesn’t matter — even in that
big room no one can see,
you push with your eyes till forever
comes in its twisted figure eight
and lies down in your head.

You think water in the river;
you think slower than the tide in
the grain of the wood; you become
a secret storehouse that saves the country,
so open and foolish and empty.

You look over all that the darkness
ripples across. More than has ever
been found comforts you. You open your
eyes in a vault that unlocks as fast
and as far as your thought can run.
A great snug wall goes around everything,
has always been there, will always
remain. It is a good world to be
lost in. It comforts you. It is
all right. And you sleep.

(William Stafford [source])

…and:

And if awakening is also already present, inescapably and everywhere present from the beginning, how can the emotions not be part of that singing life of grasses and fish and oil tankers and subways and cats in heat who wake us, furious and smiling, in the middle of the brief summer night?

(Jane Hirshfield)

Changing gears, there’s this — not from whiskey river:

[Sleeping] Beauty, known as Talia, falls into a death–like sleep when a splinter of flax is embedded under her fingernail. She sleeps alone in a small house hidden deep within the forest. One day a King goes out hawking and discovers the sleeping maiden. Finding her beautiful, and unprotesting, he has sex with her — while Talia, oblivious to the King’s ardent embraces, sleeps on… Nine months later a sleeping Talia gives birth to twins named Sun and Moon… The [King’s] wife then decides to murder Talia by burning her at the stake. As Talia undresses, each layer of her fine clothing shrieks out loud (in other versions, the bells sewn on her seven petticoats jingle). Eventually the King hears the sound and comes to Talia’s rescue. The jealous wife is put to death, the cook reveals the children’s hiding place, and the King and Talia are united in a proper marriage.

(This excerpt is a summary, by Midori Snyder, of “The Sun, The Moon, and Talia,” a 17th-century version of the tale of Sleeping Beauty by one Giambattista Basile, which appeared in a collection called The Pentamerone. As Snyder says:

Italian fairy tales were among the earliest versions of such stories to be published in Europe. These old renditions were bawdy and sexually charged (and clearly not meant for children).

You can read a translation by D.L. Ashman of Basile’s entire story here — which renders the critical moment in the first part of the story thusly: “He lifted her in his arms, and carried her to a bed, where he gathered the first fruits of love.”)

Finally, as long as we’re mucking about in versions of fairy tales from the dark side, here’s the opening of Snow White: A Tale of Terror, somewhat surprisingly a made-for-TV film from 1997. In this version, Sigourney Weaver plays the troubled wicked stepmother/queen. As you can see, from the very opening credits the film wastes no time in putting us right into the thick of an intense moment:

This video clip cuts off just before the first appearance of Snow White’s new stepmother, but you can see part 2 of the film on YouTube as well. Or, uh, well, you could just rent it, borrow it from a library, or get your own copy. (You may not have mine.)

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Note: The photo at the top of this post is of a project called “Sleep Waking” (no l there), by Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns. Says Orellana’s site:

…Just as the computer and the automobile have augmented our communication and transportation capabilities, the robot is destined to be essential to our society. What will humanity’s relationship be to the robot in the future?

Using recorded brainwave activity and eye movements during REM sleep to determine robot behaviors and head positions, “Sleep Waking” acts as a way to “play-back” dreams. Through this piece we hope to investigate one of the possible human-robot relationships.

(More information — including a video — here. I don’t know about you, but in my head I’m already seeing for Snow White: A Tale of Robotic Terror.)