ROUNDING IT ALL OUT (photo) & LOOSE CHANGE (tanka dream series) by Roswila

LOOSE CHANGE

the dark-skinned woman
and her ghostly young son
wander the night streets
she approaches me as I start
counting the change in my hands

she says she needs just
one quarter and a dime –
I hand her what she needs
then go back to counting coins

but not before I
note that she and her son need
shelter for the night –
with change still loose in my grasp
I let them into a meeting room

I haven’t the time
to finish the counting –
I hand her all change
and my coin purse for safekeeping
then leave for an appointment

as I shut the door
I realize she may not
be trustworthy
but her need is great and I
have more change where that came from


[five tanka on a dream of 10-11-12. Think of the “change” here as a concrete image for growth, for becoming different in small but valuable and accumulating ways. There are other, very different sorts of "coinage" in this dream, but that’s a good place to start. I also note that this is the second night in a row with a dream that has a woman with a young son (a highly meaningful image for me personally). Photo “Rounding It All Out” 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.