Patterned on a series of dream states, David Barrick’s Nightlight delves into the surreal nature of the human imagination, even at its most unconscious. Whether Barrick’s poems explore the sensory world of a classic horror film, an Alex Colville painting, or an afterhours jazz gig, his inquisitiveness leads to invention, and invention to discovery. Where else could an amateur fossil hunt become a primeval experience, or a lawnmower, a cow, and newlyweds float together midair? Nightlight taps into the emotional undercurrents of these moments, unfolding like a “long elastic maze of song.”