CRESTING (photo) & PADDLING (tanka series) by Roswila

PADDLING

sitting in a small flat-
bottomed tin tub she paddles
around with her hands
it’s not an urban lake or pond
she’s navigating but a flood

manufacturing
must has been done in these
now sodden buildings
their doors underwater
with fish traps set out hastily

something smells fishy
and it’s not the rickety traps
it’s her intuition
she can feel eyes on her
from the dark squat buildings

she makes one last spin
on the smooth water simply
for the fun of it
then hand paddles quickly backward
past the looming windows

she can’t see the way
out of this drowned complex
but backwards is faster
so she paddles on trusting
the strong impetus to flee


[five tanka on a dream of 10-4-12. Photo “Cresting” 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.