A Pterry Rave (For Author Terry Pratchett)

[photo to the left, courtesy of WebShots.com]


Do you want to have a great time and not have to leave your brains or humanity behind? I’ve got an idea for you: read anything by Terry Pratchett, the author of fantasy books about that flat world, balanced on the backs of four elephants, who stand on the shell of the great turtle Atuin, called Discworld.

This man who wrote “Geography is just physics slowed down, with a few trees stuck on,” whose characters are patch works of flaws, endlessly funny, and at least as human as we round-earthers.

This writer whose puns, and political and literary allusions (when I catch them, I’m sure I miss many) make me sputter with delight.

This fair-minded, riotously ridiculous, seemingly unendingly creative author who fills his books with peoples of all kinds: witches, wizards, gnomes, trolls, zombies, vampires, werewolves, elves, golems, fairies, druids and sorcerers, to mention a few, in interlocking and hilarious but somehow working societies.

Everything and everyone in human history, from ancient to modern, is up for roasting in these books – but without even a whiff of condescension or meanness coming from the author’s direction. Nothing is sacred, and that just means everything is.

Pterry, as he’s known in his online fan-clubs, is British. He’s so popular in the U.K. that at one time it was rumored 1% of all books sold there were authored by him. Pterry’s books are readily available here in the States, so let’s show the U.K. we also know a great author when we read one.


Below are a few of the sites with Pterry information:

Terry Pratchett Books Book site, with reviews, comments by Pterry, and more.

The L-Space Web Biography, Books & Writings, Art & Graphics, FAQs; Fan Activity; and more.

Fantastic Fiction His books, releases, covers, descriptions and availability.

Fan listing List of fan groups.

Discworld Monthly Free monthly online newsletter.

Annotated Pratchett File All those allusions I’m sure I don’t get. :D)


That’s more than enough for a start, and there are many more sites out there.


Following is a list of some of my own favorite Discworld books, but any of the Discworld series is fabulous:

WYRD SISTERS (three of the funniest, most magical witches ever)

WITCHES ABROAD (more of the above witches)

MOVING PICTURES (send-up of the movie industry)

GUARDS! GUARDS! (the most motley and wonderful Nightwatch ever)

MORT; SOUL MAN; REAPER MAN (three books about Death, the most amazing and profound characterization ever)

GOING POSTAL (if I had to pick a favorite or not be allowed to ever read another Pterry book, this would be it; amazing)

THE WEE FREE MEN (for children, but definitely not childish, and very enjoyable for this over-grown child)

I warn you, his books are addictive!

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
* * * *If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)
NEW POST(S): A Daily Dream Haiku; Dream-Based Haiku; The Demise of Pegasus Dreaming; Using The Tarot With Dreams.
FUTURE POST(S):Using Your Dreams to Create Poetry & Stories (4 fun exercises); On Getting Old* * * *

Dream Mosaics: On Writing Haiku Based on Dreams

[The painting on the right is "Flaming June"
and is by Lord Frederic Leighton.]

Most of us tend to think of haiku as being set in nature and a great many are, as are many of my own. However, I also enjoy writing haiku in other settings, such as an urban or dream setting. Today I’m sharing a sampling of haiku I’ve written based on my dreams. ( In the future I’ll share some of my urban haiku.)

You may note I do not adhere strictly to the convention of three lines of 5/7/5 syllables or to using a word to indicate the season in which the haiku is set. For my reasoning, see my earlier post about a haiku-based form called "Scifaiku."

You may also notice the occasional use of a dash or colon at the end of a line. A colon indicates what follows results from or comes out of the line it ends and a dash indicates that a comparison or contrast is being made.

I find dream-based haiku to be the most challenging haiku to write and am least certain whether they ever really "work" at all. Then why do I try? I find that writing a haiku about a compelling dream can be a simpler way to honor the dream than my usual lengthy dream journaling approach. However, more importantly, I find that the distilling I have to put a dream through to house it in a haiku can be very enlightening with respect to the dream. Something essential can emerge in that process that is not necessarily apparent in the resultant haiku, but in my own relationship to the source dream.

I am still somewhat uncomfortable with my haiku based on dreams. I often feel that one or the other of the haiku form or the dream have been short-changed. Yet, I feel compelled to keep writing them, to become more adept at honoring both the form and the source dream.

DREAM-BASED HAIKU

lunar eclipse dream:
palm size dog
touches my heart

* * * *

crack in reality:
little devils
dance the conga

(Published; see "Resource" at end of post for credit.)

* * * *

a beach at twilight
solitary young people
dance in the shallows

* * * *

white flowered
dream tree
waking to spring rain

on my heart
the weight of that dream
summer solstice

(For some time I tried using a basic format of contrasting the dream to my waking from it. These two above are examples of that approach. Ultimately, I found it tended to short-change the dream.)

* * * *

assigned in a dream:
to sort through the thousands
of battlefield dead

(This is a years-old dream and haiku, and it has proven to be true in my inner work over the years.)

* * * *

grandma’s gift
roseate stone
in dream setting

* * * *

dream revelation
the new Pope resigns to take
the path with heart

(Based on a very recent dream, for which writing this haiku produced several insights.)

* * * *

flowering vines
climb the grey yard wall
dream prison break

the ricochetting
red bullet chases us
dream escape

(These two were dreamed on recent consecutive nights. Until I wrote the second haiku I had not even noticed the connection between the dreams in theme.)

* * * *

dream mosaic
loose stones still
tell a story

* * * *

May your own dream mosaics reveal rich and rewarding stories.

Resource: the "little devils" haiku above was published in "Inside Out: Haiku and Dreams," by Joseph Kirschner; Deep North Press, Evanston, IL; © 2003, ISBN 1-929116-10-1; this is a lovely book (inside and out, literally) about writing haiku based on dreams, with dream haiku by many different authors.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
* * * *If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile") * * * * NEW POST(S): Using The Tarot With Dreams That Got Away; The Demise of Pegasus Dreaming, With A Scifaiku.
FUTURE POST(S):Using Your Dreams to Create Poetry & Stories (4 fun exercises)* * * *

Using The Tarot With Dreams That Got Away

[The card on the left is the Seven of Cups from the Rider / Waite / Smith Tarot deck.]

We've all had a dream that on awakening just evaporates, leaving us grasping after it. The three Tarot card exercises below offer different ways of possibly retrieving some important aspect of just such a dream.

Before I go on, I'd like to stress that I do not necessarily believe that all dreams need to be remembered to have served their purpose. However, I do believe that when we have that sense of frustration or yearning on not being able to remember a particular dream, it may be useful to try one of these Tarot layouts. Also you will note I mention the idea of a dream evolving. I believe all dreams -- remembered or not -- are unfinished, that they are all going somewhere, just as our lives are.

You need not be familiar with The Tarot to use it with dreams – remembered or not. When working with dreams, your intuitive responses are at least as, and maybe more valuable than knowledge of The Tarot. All you really need do is listen inwardly to whatever surfaces while viewing the cards. Whatever you think on first viewing the card is often most important. Frequently it offers a welcome insight, though occasionally it may seem silly, or off-putting. In the latter cases, don’t immediately reject that insight, but try to see how it may apply to you and your life. If you have a sort of "Ah HAH!" experience when viewing a card, it may very well be relating to some aspect of the unremembered dream.

A note here to experienced Tarot card readers: The traditional meanings for the cards can also be instructive. Especially when a card seems "dense." However, in my experience intuition trumps meaning on the rare occasion there is a conflict or contradiction between them. Almost always, though, I find my intuition and the meaning amplify each other nicely.

Lastly, remember to keep notes of the cards you pull and your responses to them.

THE PROCESS

With each of the below layouts, simply shuffle the deck, following the instruction for what to concentrate on in the exercise you are doing. Then choose the appropriate card or cards at random.

* * * *

#1: DYNAMIC DREAM LAYOUT

Read through the five questions below. Then pull five cards at random after shuffling the deck and lay them out, one below the other. The cards may relate, in order, to these questions:

Card 1 = Where was the dream coming from?
Card 2 = What was the dream trying to tell me?
Card 3 = How was the dream trying to evolve?
Card 4 = How can I best help that evolution?
Card 5 = What is Spirit saying through this dream?

* * * *

#2: ONE SHOT

Choose one of the options below, and think about it as you shuffle:

(1) What is an important underlying theme of the dream I've forgotten?

** OR **

(2) What was an ACTUAL image in the forgotten dream? (This question might trigger some dream recall when you see the Tarot card.)

Then pull one card at random. What is your response, given the question you were asking?

* * * *

#3: BEFORE AND AFTER

Look through all the cards of your Tarot deck and choose a card that somehow feels like it might relate to the forgotten dream, whether it makes sense or not, whether you like the card or not.

Then put this card back in your deck and shuffle thoroughly.

With the deck face up in one hand, go looking for the card you chose. When you find it, the card beneath the card you initially chose will be:

"Where the forgotten dream was coming from."

and the card above it will be

"How the forgotten dream was trying to evolve."


* * * *

Have fun fishing for those slippery dreams that entice!

Resource: My thanks to Eva Yaa Asantewaa for the inspiration for exercise #3; you will really enjoy a visit to her resourceful site which includes Tarot, book reviews, and much more.

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

Roswila
* * * *If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile") * * * *
FUTURE POST(S):Using Your Dreams to Create Poetry & Stories (4 fun exercises)* * * *