LOOKOUT POINT (photo) & ISN'T THAT DUCKY (dreamku series) by Roswila

ISN’T THAT DUCKY

the small golden phoenix
slides slowly down the long branch
that bends to the ground,
clearly unaware that it’s
slipping toward the packed earth

it collides with the ground
feathers rumple and a stunned look
appears on its face –
I can’t believe it hadn’t known
of its inexorable slide

then I realize
it’s only an ordinary duck –
the bird’s oblivion
no longer seems so egregious
and I feel quite humbled

the duck flaps back up into the bush
perception really is everything


[three tanka topped by a two-liner on a dream of 12-3-12. Photo “Lookout Point” 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.