Sheri-D Wilson’s epic poem, The Oneironaut ∅1, has unusual origins.
The poet, spoken-word artist and playwright traces its beginnings back to 2019 when the Order of Canada recipient was nearing the end of her tenure as Calgary’s poet laureate. A group of precision oncologists were holding a conference in the city and since the acronym for Precision Oncology Experimental Therapeutics is POET they thought it would be a hoot to have one write and perform something for them. Initially, Wilson declined.
“They are really high-thinkers, we’re talking the smartest people on earth,” says Wilson. “They were like ‘Will you write a poem about us?’ I said ‘Absolutely not. I can’t even imagine anything with it. In fact, I don’t even have the brain capacity to do that. I can generally say what you do, but I can’t really get into that because you are the brainiacs of the universe and you’re bringing all of the brainiacs from all over the world for this convention in Calgary.”
“But I said ‘I could write about this thing that I’ve been really thinking about … ‘”
So she delivered this relatively benign piece – at least compared to what it would become – about dream healing. An Oneironaut is a person who explores dream worlds. It kicked off what she describes as a six-year obsession for writing epic poems, which will eventually be spaced out over three volumes. The first, The Oneironaut ∅1, establishes a dystopian premise for the sprawling, narrative poem. The main speculation is imagining a world where people cannot dream. The main character, Rain, is a scientist who becomes involved with The Willows, a rebellion group that opposes the totalitarian “Bureau.” The Bureau forces citizens to take a “Metanoia pill” that renders them dreamless. When Rain stops taking it, she wakes up to her dystopian surroundings.
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