NIGHT WATCH (photo) & AN INFINITY OF GHOSTS (dream tanka series) by Roswila

AN INFINITY OF GHOSTS

the shish kabob-like
pole sticks out from the roof of
the abandoned house,
a new style of ghost catcher
that spears each haunt on approach

a squatter watches
from inside the dark attic
covering his ears
against the flapping of a
hoard of impaled ghosts

one after another
they have been speared, piling up
along its length and
dangling from the pole like
forgotten flags or laundry

the squatter quickly
takes down the pole then leaves,
freeing all the ghosts
to fly on and seek some other
echoing old house to invade

the unprotected
house stands vulnerable
again to haunting –
a huge new wave of ghosts flattens
the old building against its crest

with nothing left either
to spear or house these haunts,
momentum rolls them
rapidly along until all
disappear into infinity


[six tanka on a dream of 10-12-12. At least at one level this boils down to an object lesson: What we resist persists. Among other issues, there’s a large helping of wish fulfillment for rest from memories and their attendant emotions. Photo “Night Watch” 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.