FELLOW TRAVELLERS (photo) & GOING PLACES (pair of dreamku series) by Roswila

GOING PLACES
(two dreams/one night)

Up and Down:

I get on the lift
with a woman friend and a
female stranger
we each push a floor button
and smile vaguely at each other

on the way up
the elevator passes
the floors we’d chosen
I push our buttons again
it passes each on the way down

I visualize climbing three flights of stairs
would it even be worth the pain-filled effort


Back and Forth:

a gargantuan
water buffalo tries to climb
aboard our small boat
should I drive out to sea or
back to the beach to elude it

I opt for solid ground
and am greatly relieved when
the boat drops wheels
and encloses us like
a fortified tank

but now, several
huge water buffalo
attempt to enter
our little boat-cum-tank,
one throwing itself at a window

should I just abandon this odd armored vessel
where is there left to go in it anyway


[two dreamku series on two separate dreams of 11-16-12. Photo “Fellow Travellers” 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 SOURCE OF ALL GOLD (photo) & ON ENTITLEMENT (dream tanka series) by Roswila

ON ENTITLEMENT

she’d bailed out her oh-
so-clever, fair-haired young son
with a gold leaf flake --
she denies she has more gold,
not wanting him to feel entitled

on the scent of a
life of ease the boy pesters
his patient mother:
what of rumors, he says, about
a woman who always pays with gold,

doling out flakes and
chips in carefully calculated
and proper amounts,
yet living in relative
poverty and obscurity?

oh pishwah, she says,
just another fairy tale
in the making,
now leave your mother be
and go do your morning chores


[four tanka on a dream of 11-15-12. I seem to still be in childhood story mode. See my comments to yesterday’s dreamku post re: The Emperor’s New Clothes, and the comments on November 13th re: Pandora's Box. Today's dream/ku reminds me of the fable “The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs.” Photo “The Source of All Gold” 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.

UP FROM UNDER (photo) & BABY TALK (dreamku series) by Roswila

BABY TALK

after each burst of
unintelligible chatter
the naked baby
sinks back into the water
on which it had been walking

more puzzling than its
walking on or breathing water?
others understand
its every pronouncement
but I hear only gibberish

I recall a certain naked emperor
and laugh silently as the scene fades out


[two tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 11-14-12. Laugh out loud! I got told, didn’t I? Think maybe it’s time I gave less credence to that “inner baby”? Maybe not ignore its clear need for attention, but certainly not bow down to it. This is one of those surprise gift dreams. I’d not have given two cents I’d get a helpful dream last night, given the miserable (sic: self-pitying) mood I was in on going to sleep. (BTW, “naked emperor” refers to the fairly tale “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”) Photo “Up From Under” 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.

CLOSING TIME! (photo) & ON PROTECTING (dreamku) by Roswila

ON PROTECTING

murder is afoot!
I send the young boy who’s like
a son to me away,
thinking to protect him from
the inevitable fall out

too late I realize
I’d not said how much I love him
I hope he knows


[a tanka and dreamku on a dream of 11-13-12. Photo “Closing Time!" 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 BOX (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE BOX

holding that long gone
wooden box, turning it over
and over again
tracing it’s burned-in arcane
designs with her fingers

bowing to smell
the accumulated aromas
of herbs and oils once
stored in its capacious and
pale golden wood space

a piece of the past
attached by unseen tendrils
to other pieces
that hum and agitate for
their share of attention

no this box of memory suffices by itself
she shuts it gently and drafts the dreamku


[three tanka and a capping two-liner on a dream of 11-12-12. Puts me in mind of Pandora's Box. Those other memories haven't been shut away simply by closing the box in the dream. They're out, for good or for ill. Though I can exercise a certain amount of will with respect to what and how much I think about them. Or at least I'd like to believe that. 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.

HOLDING PATTERN (photo) & LIFE WITH FATHER REDUX (triple dreamku series) by Roswila

LIFE WITH FATHER REDUX
(one night/three separate dreams)

Chapter One:

her father's handsome
in a new brown herringbone jacket --
she had never liked
brown and it doesn’t match
the pattern on his pants,

but somehow it works --
he proudly shows her the top
button, a handmade
ceramic he’d saved from
a jacket of his father’s


Chapter Two:

she and her father
keep the doctor’s appointment
despite her reluctance --
her brain X-ray shows two dark spots,
encysted tumors says the M.D.

the doctor’s a joke
she can’t get straight answers from him
she turns to her dad
for support but none’s forthcoming
she storms out of the office


Epilogue:

rain streaks through the night –
though she has an umbrella
her skirt’s getting soaked

she should take shelter
in a building lobby and
wait out this rain storm
but she’s anxious for home
which can’t be too far away

she angles her umbrella into the wind
lamp light glow refracts in the rain


[three dreamku series on three separate dreams of 11-11-12. Photo “Holding Pattern” 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.