RETURNING WITH THE BOOTY (photo) & SO, NU? (tanka series) by Roswila

SO, NU?*

the T.V. sitcom cum
movie star enters an amateur
singing competition
she claims she qualifies since
she’s never been a singer

as my friends and I
get washed up for our day
I express outrage:
just based on her celebrity
alone she’s a shoe in to win

and what about the
unknowns who’ll sing their hearts out --
my friends clearly agree
with me but say nothing,
not even nodding their heads

then it hangs before
me as if scribbled in the fog on
my bathroom mirror:
who ever said that this treasure-
trove of a life is also fair


[four tanka on a dream of 8-11-12. *The title is a Yiddish expression my stepmother used. I always thought in lieu of saying “So, what else is new.” “Nu” means just about that, as in “so?” or “well?” Photo “Returning with the Booty” 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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

A DAY AT THE OFFICE (photo) & THE GREATER FLOW (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE GREATER FLOW

we stand in the aisle
at a busy intersection
large airy office

cubicles abound
in each direction I look --
I want to walk straight
ahead on this grey carpet
but I’m mired in fellow workers

I strain against this
containment but to no avail
then the increasing
crowd shoves me, still fighting,
in the opposite direction

I steadily struggle
against being pushed backward --
we inch by workers
lining the side aisles awaiting
their chance to enter the crush

then, I stop resisting,
as if from a Chinese finger
puzzle, I’m released:
fighting the greater flow
only disempowers us


[one dreamku and four tanka on a dream of 8-9-12. “Chinese finger puzzle” -- I so clearly recall my father handing me one as a kid and how delighted I was when I figured it out, click here for wikipedia info. (I’d describe the puzzle here myself but would have to go on at length, and they do it better and with a photo.) Although I did not dream of this puzzle, the feeling on recalling my “release” at the end was exactly what I felt as a child when I figured out the puzzle, freeing my index fingers. Photo “A Day at the Office” 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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

HOLDING UP THE SKY (photo) & THE MOSQUITO (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE MOSQUITO

I’m shocked and honored
to be invited, along
with a young man,
to visit with Oprah in
her house way up in the sky

she hands me a book
of her own copious and
up-beat aphorisms
I sit on a plein air ramp
and read them thoughtfully

we talk at a remove
as she prepares breakfast in
her in-door kitchen
I say I agree with her except
that darkness does sometimes fall

a mosquito’s been
squashed on the corner of a page
I try to flick it off
and realize it’s still alive
I flick again carefully

it sticks to my thumb
and then to my ring finger
as I shake my hand --
I don’t want to get bitten --
then it finally falls off

I watch it plummet
toward the city street far below
will it ever fly again?


[dreamku series written on a dream of 6-23-12. I didn’t have a clue to this one when I wrote it back in late June and still didn't when I decided to post it today simply as a cipher. However, in reading it over to be sure of grammar and typing, I now have a sense of it. Although I often get additional insights to a dream long after dreaming it, I don’t recall not getting a dream at all until many weeks later. Can we spell "resistance," children? Photo “Holding Up the Sky” 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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

PROCESSION (photo) & PREPARATION (dreamku series) by Roswila

PREPARATION

“Pre-e-e-pare ye
the way of the Lord,
pre-e-e-pare ye
the way of the Lord” ... recall
of a Godspell song I love

I sing out proudly,
my aging soprano for once
cooperating
the young man seems to enjoy
my fondness for this musical

he’s not seen or heard the show but something
of it must come through – his shining face


[two tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 8-7-12. I’d not have given a plug nickel that I’d have a dream about sharing joy last night. So, you really never know! Of course, it’s basically a wish fulfillment dream, but even that’s an improvement. And that reference to “the Lord”? I don’t necessarily see that in a religious sense, but in a more psychological way as my search for self-mastery. However, I don’t totally discount the possibility of spiritual meaning. Oh, and those “e’s” in the first and third line lyrics? They are each sung on different notes, and give a certain sense of anticipation to what follows, IMHO. Not to mention just sounding lovely. One last thing: I “actually” sang the lyrics quoted in the first four lines several times in the dream and “heard” them clearly. Photo “Procession” by Roswila; I’ve also posted this photo as a possible Strength card in my Found Tarot – is that an open mouth? and with respect to this dream/ku might it be singing?]

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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

DEAD END (photo) & IN/SECURITY (dreamku series) by Roswila

IN/SECURITY

job security
in an insecure time:
free lance vampires
when you hire one of them to kill
they do it – no questions asked

they also have no
vanity, not seeing themselves
in any mirror,
so spend no time on how they look
but go right to their assignment

you need only keep them going from job
to job – they’ll never then turn on you


[two tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 8-6-12. The clue to this dream/ku is in the first two lines. Just what can we count on in human nature (in others, in one's self)? I’m afraid last night’s inquiry came up with a rather negative response to that question. In my “defense” I was in a great deal of physical pain yesterday and the vampire image itself is at least partly day residue (from a new book I started last night). Photo “Dead End” 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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.

BEARDED BY THE FLOOD (photo) & INUNDATED (dreamku series) by Roswila

INUNDATED

the renovations they
want to make will poison
our backyard pond
which in turn will poison
the lake only yards away

my long-time friend
and I walk sadly between them
I note that water
levels are rising rapidly
the footpaths disappearing

why isn’t she even
registering this flooding
that will unground us
I grow more and more anxious
as I await her awareness

I look for the paths
beneath the water but cannot
see either of them
she finally takes note and
command of the situation

she dives right in and
I follow her lead -- we swim
toward the spot on the
pond shore where we began
this ill-fated wandering

the current tugs us
off course, way to the right,
again, she doesn’t notice

but why do I care
what she does or doesn’t note
we’re not attached
at the navel – I’m a free agent
and still a good swimmer


[dreamku series on a dream of 8-5-12. Photo “Bearded by the Flood” by Roswila; sorry, another of my big -- some might say, pretentious -- titles for little photos, but I couldn't resist]

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....".

* * * *

‘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 OPENING TO THE LIGHT.