Magical Thinking

Psychologists characterize thinking as a form of thought in which wishes and desires shape the reality we perceive. Such thinking is usually dismissed as delusional. But most human beings think magically most of the time and have done so throughout history. It is the kind of thinking that has produced cathedrals and symphonies, depravity and genocide. Joseph Duemer's poems attempt to shape his magical thinking into understandable forms. His poetry is an argument with science and religion, which seek to establish themselves as systems that organize experience into stable meanings.