WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (photo) & STRAIGHTENING UP (dreamku series) by Roswila

STRAIGHTENING UP

they’ve straightened it all
up rather nicely, she thinks,
though she’s still not clear
on what had actually
happened that led to the mess

had someone died?
and why did they rearrange
the furniture?
sadly, there’s something about it
that still doesn’t smell quite right

she’s very tired
her bed might still be warm
from when he woke her
she sprays her small apartment
with a clean scent air refresher

her bed beckons – let sleep’s net
bear the weight of her uncertainties


[three tanka and a two-liner on a dream of 8-17-12. All of this was dreamed, even the end about going back to sleep. Photo “What Dreams May Come” by Roswila; no great shakes as a photo and a rather heavy title. It was taken in a series of pictures in 2009, to show a friend back in New York City how I’d set up the first rooms I lived in here in Friendship Manor. I still have that wonderful Pegasus poster in my bedroom where I am now.]

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.

SUBROSA (photo) & THE SILENT CONTRACT (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE SILENT CONTRACT

her long-time lover’s
leaving on a business trip
the first in many months
he pulls the files for the I.D.
he’ll be assuming

oh, no it’s "Ted"!
that means he’s contracted
to make a killing –
and just how does he sell
anyone on his false personas?

it seems other folk
must be no more concerned with
honesty than he
the important thing being
to always make the sale

the silent contract:
I’ll buy whatever you’re selling
if you’ll buy my stuff


[three tanka and a dreamku on a dream of 8-16-12. And just in case the clues to this aren’t obvious within the dreamku series, I “buy into” this “contract” myself. E.g., I almost named it “The Social Contract.” Photo “Subrosa” 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.

NEXUS (photo) & ON BUTTS AND FIRSTS (paired dreamku series) by Roswila

ON BUTTS AND FIRSTS
(paired dreamku series)


NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTTS

the svengali-like
old flame of hers starts making
himself breakfast
mixed with the cooking aromas
acrid cigarette smoke

she wants neither his
cooking nor smoking in her home
nor even his presence
she rushes to the kitchen
to tell him to leave

he’s just left the room
two large cigarettes burn
on a plate of eggs
she completely stubs them out
but does not toss them away

ashes swirl in egg yolk
he can clean up his own mess


FIRST THINGS FIRST

she faces up to
the monolithic image
her mind keeps hiding
instantaneously behind:
a seductive young man

this time she tells off
that impervious united front
her mind always builds
and it breaks as if into boulders
that roll every which way

she walks up to each
in turn, giving every unique
facet a gentle touch:
now it’s time for compassion,
for naming, and for owning


[two dreamku series on two different dreams of 8-14-12. I share these here as a pair, since the last seems to make some progress on the first. (There were also dreams in between but I don’t recall them.) The second dream/ku also takes the dream imagery from the inter-personal to within the mind. Both, however, posit that a stand must be taken before anything else can happen. To be less mysterious, I think these both reflect something I’ve realized before but have had my nose rubbed in a lot recently: how my own mind (or rather an aspect thereof that masquerades as the whole enchildada) bullies me. And the way that gets maintained is believing that that monolithic mind knows what’s it’s talking about! It may very well know, but only from it’s own inflated perspective. Just as any other mind aspect has its own viewpoint (though not necessarily inflated). The mystery here? Who is it (what mind aspect is it) in the last tanka of the second dream/ku? Yet another mind “boulder” or maybe a new type of aspect altogether that holds the ability for a genuine overview and embrace of all? I’d like to think it’s a foreshadowing of Self (note the big “S,” as in Jungian psychology theory). Photo “Nexus” 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.

Body & Soul is almost three years old, but this is a version I just made yesterday. It's one of those photos I've held on to through several different crops for some reason, none of them satisfying. The original is a much larger and distant view of the bird/shadow) and also tilted. And not til yesterday did I think to re-align it, crop in even tighter, and reverse the colors and change them. Although still not totally satisfying, it's close enough to leave it be and share here. Paul Valery said: A poem is never finished, just abandoned. And I'd say that's true of any artistic effort of mine. I just reach a point where I can think of nothing else to improve or fix it. And if that point is far enough along, I keep and share it. If not, I delete it or put it on a way distant back burner.

As to this picture, I suppose most folk will view the actual bird as the body and the shadow as the soul. However, one can look at it another way, the way I do. In a (maybe not so) metaphoric way our souls are the most substantial aspects of ourselves. So in this image I can see the soul stepping out of the essentially shadow life of its body at death. Or this photo could be seen as the experience of a deep split between body and soul; a need for healing. And typing all this just explained to me why I've held on to this problematic photo for so long. It was "talking" to me. Of course none of this makes it a successful picture. Just another symbol into which I've poured some unconscious contents.

NOTE: In most browsers you can click on a photo to view a larger version. And here’s the link if you wish to read an Introduction, Background, & Technical Aspects post about this blog.

* * * *

‘til next take, may you enjoy life in the ever changing light,

[aka: Patricia Kelly] **** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or photos, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”) ****

HEDGING ALL BETS (photo) & THE HEDGES (non-dream based haibun) by Roswila

THE HEDGES
(a haibun*)

The hedges in the front yard have been a constant presence. Sometimes a chore to trim, or walk around when heavy with rain; at other times a joy to see bowing beneath a sparkling new snow fall, or lush with gold green buds. They have always been here, always defining the entrance to my apartment for over 20 years. But the hedges' days as a tall fence between my landlord’s yard and the next door neighbor’s have been numbered. Our landlord has had them cut down within inches of the ground:

the neighbor's smile
where hedges used to be
summer sunlight


[not dream-based -- about an experience in 2006 when I was still living in New York City; slightly revised in May 2012. *Haibun (a centuries old Japanese form): an often poetic prose paragraph, followed by a capping haiku; frequently written in a thematic series. I posted this one here when I first wrote it in 2006 but recently slightly revised it. However, revision is just an excuse to re-post. I think I am drawn to it this morning for the reminder that startling and unwelcome changes can have upsides, too. Photo “Hedging All Bets" 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.

NARROW IS THE WAY (photo) & THERE'S NO DRUG FOR SOME AILMENTS (dream tanka series) by Roswila

THERE’S NO DRUG FOR SOME AILMENTS

what a sleep-over!
and happily he calls soon
asking to see me –
the drugstore he’s suggested
for our meeting's deserted

it would be cool but
it’s not at all clear if he, too,
had enjoyed last night …
and so he did, smiling as
he then lays out a lie:

his life’s much too full
now (true) which is why he may
not be in touch much,
i.e., not for less desire
to see me (untrue)

I hold back a snark
not wanting to give away my
knowledge of his lie:
I know his other lover
though she believes him faithful

his dishonesty closes
our talk – I’m left pondering
should I tell his lover?
and is there a drug on these shelves
to cure my attachment to him?


[five tanka on a dream of 8-11-12. Photo “Narrow is the Way” 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.