LAST THRESHOLD (photo) & THE DENIM DOOR (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE DENIM DOOR

hungry and undressed
I’m running late for my job
but I cannot find
the clothes I keep stored away
in our old neighborhood deli

smiling too sweetly
the owner’s new wife shows me
how she’s packed them all
away, awaiting my arrival
and summary removal

the box of clothing
smells faintly of mildew
from a water leak,
and all the food for sale
appears to be inedible

hungry and improperly clothed
I give up and decide to call in sick

the wife points me to
the rear exit from the deli:
a denim sheet hung
precariously across
the storeroom doorway

as I hold it aside
to leave this disappointing place,
it comes loose from its
supports and flaps down
to the dusty wooden floor

I cannot figure
how to reattach it and ask
others who come and go
if they know, but nobody
seems to have any idea

several young men
then appear and offer to help
we all stand on top
of a tall wobbly stack
of storeroom boxes and junk

they deliberately
increase the wobble, enjoying
the rocking ride
I demand that they stop
or we’ll tumble quite painfully

they comply and we
gradually come to a stand still
I sigh with relief

but the denim door’s
still unhung, and I’m still hung up
between here and home


[a dreamku series written in June on a dream of 6-23-12. After I’d drafted this one I thought, well, dummy, stop fussing with that dang denim door! It’s not your responsibility and you’re not only getting all tangled up in the drama around it, but creating that drama to begin with. You could just walk through that uncovered doorway and go home. Photo “Last Threshold” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- are offered in the spirit of collaboration. I have done my part. Now it’s your turn to jump in and see what comes up for you. I.e., there is no right or wrong way to understand or interpret any of these dream offerings. Even my own understandings of them change over time. And it gives me joy when a reader sees something in any of them that I have not.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- a brief post about both dreamku and my photos THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING DIGITAL PHOTOS.

-- detailed three-part post about dreamku: "A DREAMKU PRIMER: Writing Haiku-Like Poems About Your Night Dreams": PART ONE: Introduction & Writing Dreamku as Dream Work; PART TWO: Elements of the Haiku Form Used in Dreamku; and PART THREE: How to Write Dreamku (the second and third parts have some overlap).

-- a brief up-dating post about the three-part "A DREAMKU PRIMER" -- Important Up-date to A DREAMKU PRIMER....".

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‘til next time, keep dreaming,






If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT.