Vancouver man’s poem included in anthology

“The Autobiography of Christopher’s Inner Ear” might sound like an unsettling title for poem.

But the poem explains much about the psyche of its author, Christopher Luna of Vancouver.

Luna, 40, wrote the poem while conducting a poetry workshop with students, he said.

“It’s talking about hearing a voice in my pillow as a child,” said Luna, who teaches English at Clark College. “It was screaming. I realize now that it was an inner ear problem. But it was very unsettling the way I interpreted it at the time.”

The poem is about more than just that experience though; it’s an investigation into the creative process, and how creative people tend to interpret the world around them and their own physical sensations, he said.

“We’re interpreting things and translating things all the time,” Luna said. “The poem is kind of surreal, but the message seems to be getting through, (judging) from the reaction I’ve gotten.”

The poem is included in a new anthology — “-gape-seed-,” published by Uphook Press — along with the work of 51 other authors.

Luna and some of the anthology’s other contributors will host a reading at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at Cover to Cover Books, 6300 N.E. St. James Road, Suite 104B, Vancouver.

The book will be available at the reading and from Amazon.com for $15.