OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE (photo) & ALL WET (dreamku series) by Roswila

ALL WET

I use a clear long
hose to water the hedges
lining her bedroom –
the dry leaves now less apparent
among the bright shiny green

out of the dripping
hedges pads a soaking wet
small white kitten
omigosh, I hadn’t known
the poor thing was in there

I’m amazed that it’s
not hissing or flailing about,
that I can even
pick it up to comfort and
dry it, all its claws sheathed

soaked and outed in
one fell swoop – such surprising
grace under fire


[three tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 12-09-12. Clue: the title “all wet” does refer to the wetting images in the dream, but those images are double entendres. For me they are also visual puns on the expression “all wet” as in saying that someone is wrong. Another clue: that little kitten demonstrates a better way to react. There’s a lot more in this dream (those hedges growing in the bedroom, e.g.) but too much to go into here. Photo “Olly Olly Oxen Free” 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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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.