WARRIOR, by guest poet ROBERT ROMANELLI

WARRIOR

Dead in body but not in soul, Agnes
drove her spirit to span the galaxies,
from quasar to super cluster,
though no one on earth took notice.

Frayed at the edges was the cot
she had scavenged for sleep.
Deserted and neglected was the lonely
brick house on that desolate street,
where her room in the basement stretched
thin the limits of abandoned consolations.

Yet closet of prayer it was, this sad sinking
abode, her decaying cathedral in the heart
of a ghetto of dread, a shack of old stones
bridging nebulae whose diameters could span
the space across a thousand solar systems.

Agnes never thought of the stars above.
She did not need to. Prayer worked.
Power flowed. In that hope she had faith.
Over the years she had seen it happen,
the rising and falling of dynasties and
kingdoms, the flood of miracles.

Barely did her flesh cast a shadow
on the limed-over bricks in this room,
walls that had witnessed sorrow and suffering,
violence and blood, the horrors of death,
indifference and forgotten dreams, lost plans,
lost hope, lost time. In spite of this oppression,
Agnes uttered much prayer.

No human eyes saw her hands aflutter,
but angels inscribed each spoken phrase.
And when Agnes raised her arms in praise,
starry systems parted, paths appeared between
heaven and earth; armies marched to do
God's will, and the universe tottered on
the brink of destruction.

Agnes worshiped Jehovah-Nissi—
the powers of darkness shuddered in terror.
Great was their fear at the slightest moving
of her old parched lips.

[Notes by Roswila – Agnes: root meaning “pure” or “holy;" St. Agnes of Rome. Jehova-Nissi: Hebrew meaning “The Lord Our Banner.”]

"Warrior" Copyright © 2010 Robert E. Romanelli, PhD

Poetry Collection, Soli Deo Gloria, by Robert Romanelli

Photo "Invocation" by Roswila.


PLEASE ALSO NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, that the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[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”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

"danger pursues us..." A DREAMKU WITH PHOTO by Roswila

danger pursues us
my male companion helps our
wounded friend walk
he must go faster, I think,
they’ll catch up any minute

my cold bare feet burn
will the weight of pain and fear
bend this hollow space
so that shoes and socks roll
into a handy orbit


[two tanka on a dream of 11-2-11. What a goof ball of a dream. There was a definite sense of fear and intense urgency, but when I woke all I could do was laugh. The dreamku is so clearly heavily influenced by a PBS program I watched last night, “What Is Space?” I.e., the physics of empty space, which it is being said though "not there" still has foundational effects on everything in it. From galaxies to the stuff bubbling into and out of constant existence in the huge spaces between atoms. An aside here: I nearly fell off my recliner (just try to do that!) when that bubbling image was spoken of in the program. I’d had exactly the same image spontaneously just before sleep the other night, when wondering about origins of matter and life, etc. Anyway, empty space is said to have properties. Like gravity. I’d read of this before but the show refreshed it. Heavy stuff bends empty space (like a big ball on a rubber sheet) and any smaller stuff around then rolls into orbit around that heavier stuff. The obvious source of the final image in the above dreamku. Speed of light stuff undergirds that first tanka. This is so hard to think much less talk about and just when I believe I have it down, I trip over something else about it flapping around loose. No wonder I turn to poetry, awake or asleep. The program set off tons of other speculation about many different things. I had to rein in my imagination so that my poor belabored intellect could keep trying to get a grip on new and even more slippery concepts. Photo "Black Hole" by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, that the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such. And to write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[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”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

LET SLEEPING DRAGONS LIE (dreamku with photo) by Roswila

LET SLEEPING DRAGONS LIE

these dreaming dragons
that her feet have become
mythic guardians
how will she even stand up
ancient powers require respect


[a tanka on a dream of 10-31-11. Guess this was my Halloween costume! The title I chose is a transliteration from the usual dream language (i.e., image, action, feeling, and so forth). I'm rarely able to make such a clear transliteration in a title. But when I do, it's always helpful and sometimes great fun. And, yes, the title is also referencing the expression "Let sleeping dogs lie." Photo "Tigers on the Vine" by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, that the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such. And to write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[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”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

PERHAPS (non-dream based poem) WITH PHOTO by Patricia Kelly (Roswila)

PERHAPS

she'd thought she was past this
phase     this horrendous ache prying
at the housing of her heart like
meddlesome fingers     how could

she forget that little in life is
straight forward     instead progressing
in spirals     every circling ultimately
rolling over portions of what’s gone

before     flattening premature
relief and re-shaping many a
perception     it might be
comforting to believe that this

is where one picks up lost
stitches     or drops their
weakness all together     but she's
not up to anything more than

riding out the curves thrown with
each turning     she takes another
step around the spiral     perhaps
this time it’s just the gritty

dust of hope for unfamiliar
territory she kicks up that makes
her cry     perhaps


[non-dream based poem, written October 2011. Photo "No Getting Past It" by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, that the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such. And to write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[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”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****