WALKING ON COALS (photo) & THE HOT POTATO (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE HOT POTATO

she’s preparing food
just outside my shower,
one boiling potato
pops out of the large pot
and skitters away quickly

she impatiently
dismisses me when I offer
to get it for her
but I go hunting anyway
and find it under my couch

dust, crumbs, and stray hairs
cling to its soggy surface
I begin to hand
it to her, then decide to
wash it in my shower first

she turns a jaundiced eye toward me
but I take no insult – I’ve done my part


[three tanka and a two-liner on a dream of 9-29-12. Yes, I’ve known for ages this particular relationship has a kettle full of hot potatoes in it. And that the other person really doesn’t care to openly acknowledge, must less deal with them. But the dream points out that I have some “coming clean” to do myself (it’s my own shower, and how’s about under that couch?). Photo “Walking on Coals” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

FRATERNAL TWINS (photo) & THE THING-A-MA-BOB (tanka series) by Roswila

THE THING-A-MA-BOB

OK, how does this work?
how does one manipulate
its many folds
into whatever it is,
what it’s meant to be?

I start to prod, pull,
fold, unfold this thing-a-ma-bob --
shapes slowly start
to suggest themselves
out of visual chaos

they become clothes
all colored a solid fuchsia
a blouse and a skirt
summer weight and just my
taste in casual style

I have to hassle
but finally get them on
and they fit just right
then there’s a second set
I must also put on

they’re to go on top
of the first, identical
in every way
I wriggle into these, too,
just pleased to have solved the puzzle


[five tanka on a dream of 9-25-12. Though (as I’ve said before) seeing color in dreams is not usual for me, of all the colors I have seen, fuchsia is the one I’ve seen the most by far. As I thought about this dream I began to believe that fuchsia may -- more often than not -- represent putting on a good front or a good face. An aspect of my personality, if you will, that kicks in when I most need it in order to cope with some social situation that’s anxiety provoking. This dream/ku scenario must represent a very threatening situation indeed as I need two layers of persona. Hm, it just hits me. Not that it’s an exceptionally anxious situation, but that more than one situation is agitating at the same time, which certainly fits my life at present. Photo “Fraternal Twins” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

THE ESCAPE ARTIST (photo) & THE PEST (three dream tanka) by Roswila

THE PEST

the pesky blonde boy
says he’ll just hang on to me
as I fly away
I don’t want this but decide to
risk his falling to the ground

I make a quick launch
to which he attaches himself –
the ground rushes away,
too far below us for him
to fall to safely if he should

I choose to land before
he can lose his straining grip
there’s no escaping it
the time has come to stand
still for what he has to say


[three tanka on a dream of 9-25-12. “He” then did go on about actual stuff from my own childhood; nothing new or even said in a new way. So when I drafted this dreamku I decided to end it where the “drama” of the dream ended, too. I may be rationalizing, but I think the important aspect of this dream anyway is that desire of mine to escape from anything even mildly anxiety provoking. It's an important "heads up" at this particular time in my life to stay aware of this. Photo “The Escape Artist” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

THE GALACTIC ROUND (photo) & WHAT GOES AROUND (dreamku series) by Roswila

WHAT GOES AROUND

just what are these things?
they’re neither organpipe cacti
nor humongous squash
but nobody wants them and
especially not so many

each is nearly as
long as the bus-trucks they load
them on for disposal
load after load of single green tubes
rumbles down the interstate

and where will they dump
them? the drivers start shoving
these unwanted giants
off their vehicles, down the
embankment to the beach

our bus-truck bears
two of these Brobdingnagian
plants on its back
we don’t feel good about it
but follow the others in suit

down the embankment
they go, one after the other
we hear a radio news flash:
beach clean-up will now have
to be figured out and arranged

what goes around comes around
where it stops, nobody knows


[five tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 9-23-12. What was most interesting about this dream to me is that it was explicitly set in California. I’ve been living here now for a little over 4-1/2 years (after a life-time in New York city) and wondered when my new home state would show up in dreams. I’ve had generic beach dreams and other settings that were California-like. But this is the first in which California was actually referenced -- in that radio news flash -- and visually it was clearly one of our coast roads. This is not to say I think this dream is totally about California; it’s not. It has clear relevance to me personally, though passing the buck is something all humans tend to do. Witness the speechifying and advertisements during this presidential election year. Photo “The Galactic Round” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

NIGHT STROLL (photo) & THERE'S TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING (double dreamku series) by Roswila

THERE'S TWO SIDES TO EVERYTHING

Side One:

on a street corner
from my teenage years, stands a man
from my middle age
the night silently yields up
his booty call's phone number

he glances my way
mumbling the retrieved digits
repeatedly
once again I'm weary
of stumbling on betrayal

he's no longer mine
but I know there's a woman
he's keeping in the dark
as he sneaks to meet some other gal --
I hope they both get his number


Side Two:

alone for even
minutes at a time he's drawn
to seek a woman
not knowing he's a puppet
dangling by his own fear

further unaware
what he needs her touch to tell him:
yes, you do exist


[two dreamku series on two dreams of 10-22-11. The “Side Two” dream came on falling back to sleep after a 3:00 am drafting of the dreamku in “Side One.” I have only extremely vague dream recall from last night, so that’s why I’m posting this almost year old previously unposted series. I have thought to post it before, but always decided not to as “Side One” seems a bit unclear. So I put it aside thinking I’d edit it, but I haven’t and don’t want to now. So here it is, warts and all. Besides I think it’s “Side Two” that’s most important and had even considered posting it by itself. As to last night’s vague dreams, I do have some visual images of working on flower photos. The last one was of wide-open dying yellow roses in the sunlight. That makes the second time in recent dreams that I’ve not only dreamed of yellow, but “seen” it in a dream. As I’ve mentioned here before, it’s unusual for me to actually “see” color in a dream -- as opposed to just knowing what color something is, which is the usual for me. So I really take note of it when I “see” a color. Photo “Night Stroll” 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 TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.