A selection of dream epiphanies and reveries from Joseph Cornells voluminous diariesJoseph Cornell is well known for the oneiric quality of his art and films. Many have tried often in vain to put into words the strange power of his boxestoylike constructions whose playfulness and humor are anchored in a profound melancholy and loneliness. Slot machines of visions said Octavio Paz. Cornell himself is said to have enjoyed childrens responses to his work perhaps because nothing prepares one better for viewing a Cornell box than having an unbiased mind. Catherine Corman has combed through the voluminous diaries that Cornell kept throughout his life now in the care of the Smithsonians Archives of American Art in search of the artists own dreams. What she found are brief flashes of images and short enigmatic narratives of illuminationthe verbal equivalent of Cornell boxes. In 1993 Mary Ann Caws edited a large portion of Cornells diaries for publication by Thames amp Hudson an invaluable sourcebook for Cornell studies. This new shorter volume is a poetic addition to that literature equally indispensible to those interested in Cornell as it contains previously unpublished writings but also because it is as intriguing and mysterious to the uninitiated as the magical boxes themselves.