CHILLING (photo) & CONFLUENCE (tanka series) by Roswila

CONFLUENCE

conference table
gathering of cohorts – we’re
to taste test cookies,
each pair of us sampling one batch
of chocolate chip delights

the batch my friend and
I get has thick cookies with
lots of chocolate
I comment to my partner
that they’re way too intense

her non-sequitur
between gooey mouths full
“My son’s birthday is
today, a healthy sixty-three”
what a puzzlement

I chew this over
how can he now be so close
to my own age –
the cookie smells have made me
hungry, I open the fridge

the cold white space
is nearly empty – I stand
there singing a song:
“Pick yourself up, dust yourself
off, start all over again”


[five tanka on a dream of 9-11-12. Yeah, an even denser one than usual but I get it. Some background: I’ve been revamping a lot about my life (big and little things) for a couple months, among which is eating better. This is the third night in a row I’ve dreamed about food, food I should either avoid or have very little of. In waking life I’ve begun finding food or the thought of food is not very satisfying in the ways it used to be. While at the same time I’ve been wondering when I’ll food binge again (decades of experience dealing with this makes it if not inevitable, certainly likely). The dream seems to echo both those experiences. But it also brings out the hunger for nourishment in a broader sense, that often lies beneath food bingeing. Missing and wanting a close companion. I really like those song lyrics I woke up singing (from a 1930's movie), and that’s what I’ve been doing and will do as needed. And that I’m faced with a cold empty fridge, well, that has several different sides to it (food, relationships, myself, and a particular childhood dream memory). All of which are helpful to see. Photo “Chilling” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.