Lisson:Mitternachtsträume

Niklas Carlo Lisson's poems inhabit an in-between realm. They exist where dream and reality flow indistinguishably into one another, where language gropes for meaning while simultaneously rubbing against its own limits. "Midnight Dreams" gathers texts that elude the solid and in doing so, unfold their power. It is a collection of poetry about the in-between - between sleep and wakefulness, closeness and alienation, the search for meaning and skepticism towards language. In dense, associative images, scenes of peculiar familiarity emerge: the flicker of a lantern, the crinkle of a chip bag, the soft breathing of a sleeping companion. Yet beneath the surface of the everyday, other spaces open up. Questions of time, identity, and transience quietly but insistently rise to the surface. Time and again, there is a self that seeks - itself, language, a foothold in the uncertain. It loses itself, redefines itself, struggles for expression of what cannot be grasped. Lisson's language is sensual and reflective, at times rough and fragmentary, and at other times marked by delicate clarity.