These poems in the Columbia Journal, both from my new manuscript (almost complete!), were written for dear friends, Natalie Kittner and Jessica Baran. Natalie’s poem came from a nightmare about tidal waves. Jessica’s began as a text to her about a dream located in the landscape of the Lisa Yuskavage painting, “No Man’s Land,” part of  last spring’s exhibition at the Contemporary Museum St. Louis. The series explores the bureaucracy of the mind, envisioning a collection of governing bodies–a president, press secretary, cabinet ministers, and departments–controlling every aspect of the human psyche.