SWITCHBACK (photo) & PERSONA FACET (dream tanka) by Roswila

PERSONA FACET

this great calm
achieved in the service of
amenability --
with its endless glass smooth ease --
passes itself off as peace


[a tanka on a dream from December 2010, written June 2012 from old notes. The words “this great calm / achieved in the service of / amenability” are verbatim from the dream. And to be clear that I own up to this facet, the observing “I” was saying them about the calm “me.” Photo “Switchback” by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

HIGH MAINTENANCE (photo) & WHEN HUNGRY HOUSES ATTACK (renku, non-dream-based) by Roswila

WHEN HUNGRY HOUSES ATTACK

the over stuffed chair
will not let go
appetizer

the carpet trips her up
meat tenderized

fingers caught
in snapping drawers
tasty tidbits

boiled in the shower
low calorie cooking

midnight snack
the yawning cabinet door
chews at her

the house groans
it’s never enough


* * * *

"When Hungry Houses Attack" was written in April of 2006, and was posted here probably in late 2008. When I came across it last night I got caught up in making some minor revisions that ambushed me. I’m re-posting it today as not only does this ersatz renku (see next paragraph) still seem relevant -- the older one gets the more one is stalked by one’s home, I think -- but it’s time for some just plain silliness.

The form this is written in was inspired by the Japanese form, renku (or renga). Mine above is definitely not a true renku, but resembles it in the alternating 3 and 2 lines. Here are a couple links if you’re curious about actual renku:
AHA Poetry article (lengthy in-depth exploration of renku/renga; essentially a Japanese form usually written by two or more persons alternating in lines of 3 and 2, each written in response to the previous lines; this response is called “linking,” it is probably the single most important aspect of renga (of which there are many) and is often very subtle; clearly, my renga above is not meant to be taken as a serious attempt at the form); and a sample renga (a stunning solo renga by Jane Reichhold)

Photo “High Maintenance” by Roswila.

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

BESTOWAL (photo) & MOON WALTZ (dreamku series ) by Roswila

MOON WALTZ

my intriguing new
beau naps beside me under
the clear night sky
I sleepily lift my head
and spot the stunning moon

it glitters like white gold,
so full its edges strain against
the defining night
I gape as it slides low across
the sky brushed by tree branches

without taking my
eyes off the moon I elbow
my beau “Do you see it?
he moves and whispers a small
“yes” that radiates awe

as if normal speech
would scare this wild moon away
we contain our joy,
whispering our amazement
as the shy moon waltzes

suddenly it twins
itself, one pale dubloon face
directly above
and to the left of the other,
vibrating into the night

and then, where there were
twins, a tumbling panoply
of moons bursts out to
spread across the sky like silent
fireworks or a cosmos birthing

between my beau and I we may have one breath left


[six tanka and a monoku on a dream of 6-12-12. This dream is explicitly about the moon. However, by the time I’d finished drafting this series I was fully aware of the sexual content. True, there’s other levels to it, but I do have to ‘fess up to the sexual yearning. I say yearning, because the moon is far away and unobtainable. Then, too, there’s the romantic desire the dream carries. There’s also a spiritual yearning, however, I don’t have the time now to go into how I know that (it has to do with that final image of “a cosmos birthing”). But ultimately and most importantly, my dream world gifted me with an awe-filled respite from all the emotional “sturm un drang” of my waking life. Photo “Bestowal” by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

ROCK ROSE (photo) & [untitled] (old non-dream poem) by Roswila

[untitled]

my skull seems lined with a thousand eyes
each inward turned to route and see
the ever self-derided me
whose every breath is drawn
amongst the misery of inward hate and condemnity

and yet far worse since balanced by
surfaces smooth which lie in false serenity
the tails of scorn whip cruelly
while I survive to write again about the misery
of inward hate and condemnity


[This is a regular poem, not dream based. It’s the first poem I ever wrote, back in my teens which means it was written in the late 1950’s, or early 1960s’s at most. I wrote it before I’d ever started reading other poets work (other than the few poems by my deceased mother) or going to open readings (which I started doing in my middle 20’s). I can only date this poem by visual memories of working on it while in my bedroom in the particular house my family lived in at that time. I pulled it up from memory this morning, all too painfully aware that my inner world had not really changed in all these years. When I got on my computer, I found I’d recalled this poem several years back and entered it, though I find no indication I’ve ever posted it here on this blog. Should I ever need evidence that my emotional/mental issues go way back, this poem is it. It was not hyperbole at the time, nor has it been on and off, over and over, throughout the intervening years, nor is it now. As writing? Well, that’s a different kettle of fish. I do really like that opening line and I think the images I was drawn to work with have life to them. I also like the “music.” But that neologism of “condemnity”? … blush. I even knew at the time that I was making it up. Yes, it fits the rhythm and provides the end rhyme of the lines it's in (which is why I stubbornly held on to it), but it’s not a word. And I’ve never been sure of that second stanza. Not what is says, but as I looked at it this morning I think it’s really two stanzas squashed into one. However, I’m not changing a “hair” (eye? :-D) on this poem. It’s a matter of my personal history now, long since petrified and revealing a certain harsh symmetry. Photo "Rock Rose" by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

PLATTED PREMONITIONS (photo) & HOME/LESS (dreamku) by Roswila

HOME/LESS

the barely finger-
sized infant rests in my palm
the stranger who put
her there hovers hopefully
but I’m not up to adopting

she raises her head
and light shines in her black tresses
“Your hair’s so lovely,”
I say; she eagerly responds
“Will I be living with you?”

I’m vaguely blue
as I gently tell her of
the ebon-haired male
couple living in Ireland
who’ll send for her soon

my yearning for roots aches I’m glad she’ll have a home


[three tanka and a monoku on a dream of 6-10-12. This dream started the evening of dreams that ended with the dream I posted about yesterday, “Never Put Descartes Before De Horse.” Photo “Platted Premonitions” by Roswila; yup, that title’s a mouthful and that’s the way it goes. :-) And even though you didn't ask, one of the reasons I like this photo is that it resembles a wood cut.]

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****

HORESHEAD 4 (sketch) & NEVER PUT DESCARTES BEFORE DE HORSE (dreamku) by Roswila

NEVER PUT DESCARTES BEFORE DE HORSE

Descartes declared
“I think therefore I am”
then where am “I”
in those precious times when thought’s
drowned totally in the doing?

and what happens to “I”
when flooded with radical
waves of thought that
totally alter connecting paths
across the dunes of experience?

more important, who or what declares familiar
the “I” reborn from every drowning?


[two tanka and a two-liner on a dream of 6-9-12. This is what I’ve heard called a thinking dream. No kidding! It’s also day residue. I watched a “marathon” of T.V. shows with Stephen Hawking last night on the cosmos, God, origins of life, black holes, consciousness and brains, quantum mechanics, you name it. It was a wonder-filled well thought out soup, which I felt in awe of and occasionally prompted to argue with. (Out loud. With my T.V. screen. On subjects I know little or nothing about. It’s good I live alone.) Descartes’ famous quote was referenced at one point and I clearly continued that particular argument into my sleep. It's an intriguing quote, especially in light of all the (lay person's) reading I've been doing into neurobiology. (Most recently "Icognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain" by David Eagleman.) Even now, writing these notes, I find myself getting caught up in a conundrum. (Such as "I" being the awareness of the awareness of the world that is "amness." And what is that "amness" to begin with? And what does it arise from? And is the world of which the "amness" is spottily aware really knowable or stable? And how can the "I" answer these questions at all? And so on....) The title to this dreamku? I had come across that funny line in a UCSB student newspaper I read yesterday. It had a picture of Descartes above the first part, and of a horse over the second. So I was primed to do dream battle with Descartes before I even watched the T.V. shows. :-) Sketch above: “Horsehead 4” by Roswila; for a long time I've thought I actually do need to put the horse before Descartes -- take care of the pressing practical matters (to a large degree, let my body lead), and the philosophical searching will follow from that work. Oh, Hawking proclaimed in one of those T.V. shows that philosophy is dead. It must be wonderful to be so certain one has totally understood everything. Sorry, that last sentence is both sarcastic (I envy that certainty) and my true feeling.]

PLEASE NOTE that I never have nor do I now lay claim to having been the first to suggest writing about our dreams in the haiku form. In fact, the haijin (Haiku Masters of centuries ago) sometimes wrote haiku on dreams. But even more importantly, what I have been developing for several years now on this blog is not even truly haiku or tanka or monoku. The ways in which I have been using and experimenting with these forms makes the results more akin to kissing cousins of these small Eastern poetry forms. Therefore, I mostly use the term "dreamku" to distinguish what I do from those traditional forms. Click here for a more in-depth INTRODUCTION than follows below, including links to my THREE PART PRIMER on the basic (most haiku-like) dreamku form.

Also, the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such.

To write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006 in the sidebar.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and OPENING TO THE LIGHT ****