NEXUS (photo) & ON BUTTS AND FIRSTS (paired dreamku series) by Roswila

ON BUTTS AND FIRSTS
(paired dreamku series)


NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTTS

the svengali-like
old flame of hers starts making
himself breakfast
mixed with the cooking aromas
acrid cigarette smoke

she wants neither his
cooking nor smoking in her home
nor even his presence
she rushes to the kitchen
to tell him to leave

he’s just left the room
two large cigarettes burn
on a plate of eggs
she completely stubs them out
but does not toss them away

ashes swirl in egg yolk
he can clean up his own mess


FIRST THINGS FIRST

she faces up to
the monolithic image
her mind keeps hiding
instantaneously behind:
a seductive young man

this time she tells off
that impervious united front
her mind always builds
and it breaks as if into boulders
that roll every which way

she walks up to each
in turn, giving every unique
facet a gentle touch:
now it’s time for compassion,
for naming, and for owning


[two dreamku series on two different dreams of 8-14-12. I share these here as a pair, since the last seems to make some progress on the first. (There were also dreams in between but I don’t recall them.) The second dream/ku also takes the dream imagery from the inter-personal to within the mind. Both, however, posit that a stand must be taken before anything else can happen. To be less mysterious, I think these both reflect something I’ve realized before but have had my nose rubbed in a lot recently: how my own mind (or rather an aspect thereof that masquerades as the whole enchildada) bullies me. And the way that gets maintained is believing that that monolithic mind knows what’s it’s talking about! It may very well know, but only from it’s own inflated perspective. Just as any other mind aspect has its own viewpoint (though not necessarily inflated). The mystery here? Who is it (what mind aspect is it) in the last tanka of the second dream/ku? Yet another mind “boulder” or maybe a new type of aspect altogether that holds the ability for a genuine overview and embrace of all? I’d like to think it’s a foreshadowing of Self (note the big “S,” as in Jungian psychology theory). Photo “Nexus” 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.