Caravaggio’s Dagger – Too Often Not A Dream : War

My book, Caravaggio’s Dagger, is structured as six Taxonomies, of which the first, “The Pyre of the Accidental Butterfly,” deals with instances of war and social disruption. “Too Often Not A Dream” is the 11th and culminating poem of that Taxonomy.

The poem can be listened to here.

The book can be found here.

It was written between 4 June 2004 – 15 July 2005, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was first published in Contemporary Verse 2 (Winnipeg, Manitoba), 31/1, 40 (2008). Caravaggio’s Dagger, which considers the concept of, and actions that relate to, a pursuit of right action, was completed in Vancouver, in July, 2005. The book was published by Toronto’s Iguana Books in September, 2013. 

At the time nearing the conclusion of the poem’s composition, I was reading Dickens, and studying The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, and Julius Caesar. I was also studying Shostakovich’s Six Songs to Lyrics by English Poets, with its remarkable rendering of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 66 in Pasternak’s translation.

The catalyst for the final version of my poem, however, is probably Akira Kurosawa’s film, Dreams, created when he was 80. It is said to be based on actual dreams of the film-maker. It was the first time that I had seen this work. I watched it several times. 

“Too Often Not A Dream” was the last poem to be completed for Caravaggio’s Dagger, which I completed the same morning.

That evening, I watched Olivier’s excellent film of Henry V. The horn fanfare that concludes the “Blizzard” segment of Kurosawa’s Dreams is prominent throughout Henry V, usually symbolizing the opposing camps readying for battle. It is music by William Walton (who also appropriated, but from Canteloube, in the French scenes). This correlation mystified me until the morning, when I thought it may be plausible that when the men caught in the blizzard return to camp and look at the clearing sky and the mountains that not only have they overcome a grave obstacle, but also the next segment, “The Tunnel” begins in the mountains and deals with the stupidities and pointlessness of war.