Ward is about ‘sleep paralysis’, a condition I experienced during my adolescent years. Sleep paralysis occurs when consciousness is resumed during REM sleep, leading to audio and visual hallucinations as the subject is conscious, yet cannot move.

I’d witness moving silhouettes, ravens, disembodied voices and more. A dreamcatcher hung above my bed, one I’d gotten from a native american fair at Haskell University when I was a child. It, and my dog, Soda, were wards against the shadowy hallucinations. Ward has a double meaning, as it’s also a place for the mentally afflicted.