Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome back poet and writer Hollie Hardy, based in Austin, Texas, with a delightfully whimsical poem, “Things We Talked About While You Were Sleeping.” Hollie highlights conversations with her boyfriend, a lively somniloquist (sleep talker). Lest we get lost in the deep symbology that grows up around our dreams, these interchanges remind us how silly and absurd our subconscious can be–and perhaps we need this playfulness in our lives as much as we need insight.
“A: we have to see if you have the right size arm.
H: how will we know?
A: probably check the label.
H: the label of my arm?
A: to see if it’s the right size.
H: why do we need to know the size of my arm?
A: in case you want to get a new one.”
Hollie creates a playful atmosphere by drawing the dreamer out and keeping a list of the quirky inventions of his mind. There is meaning here, a sense of childlike wonder and mischievous affection that warms the cockles of the heart.
Read “Things We Talked About While You Were Sleeping” in Synkroniciti’s “Dreams” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Hollie Hardy is a writer, educator, and author of Lions Like Us (Red Light Lit Press, 2024) and How to Take a Bullet: And Other Survival Poems (Punk Hostage Press, 2014), winner of the Annual Poetry Center Book Award at San Francisco State University. She holds an MFA in Poetry from SFSU and teaches private writing workshops online. She is the founder of Praxis Poetry: Weekly Prompts for Poets, and host of Saturday Night Special: A Virtual Open Mic.
Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and published in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She lives in Austin, TX.
Follow on Instagram @hollie.hardy. Learn more at: holliehardy.com