WINTER TREE (photo) & RECALLING NEW YORK CITY WINTERS (non-dream haiku trio) by Roswila

RECALLING NEW YORK CITY WINTERS
(old non-dream haiku)


window seat
a distant train races
the winter moon

* * *

pried open at last
the pistachio nut pops
lost in the lap rug

* * *

Moon of Long Nights
the small victory
of a haiku


[My dream recall’s been very poor the last couple of days. Above are three of my regular (i.e., not dream-based) haiku that were written in early winter. They date back to 2000 and maybe even earlier, well before I moved here to California (2008). In fact, I know that the second “pistachio nut” haiku is one of my oldest, written in a class I took on writing haiku back in the late 1980’s. "Moon of Long Nights" in the third haiku is one American Indian name for December's full moon. Photo “Winter Tree” 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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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 short 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.

GLOBAL WARMING II (photo) & BEARER OF BAD NEWS (dream tanka trio) by Roswila

BEARER OF BAD NEWS

the bad news about
my health devastates Mama,
especially escaping
a busybody’s mouth that way
it leaves her reeling

once I have her calmed
I go to find my brother
he will either slip
into denial or over-
react but I must tell him

the wooden floor boards
of his huge dark apartment
creak as I wander,
searching for him and singing
“You and me at the edge of the world”


[three tanka on a dream of 12-5-12. No, no bad news (so far) in my waking life, just something “dreamed up” if you will. I’m fairly certain that lyric line quoted at the end and the melody I was singing it to in the dream are from a current T.V. ad. Oddly I can’t recall the tune right now and it’s usually words not melody I have trouble bringing with me from sleep. I pretty much ignore T.V. ads, but now I’ll be on the alert to see if I can identify the source. Photo “Global Warming II” 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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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 SPINE OF NIGHT (photo) & MEN, AND THEN SOME (dream tanka series) by Roswila

MEN, AND THEN SOME

first and always there’s the
tall dark man, if not front and center
then on his way back in
or leaving his enigmatic mark
on each scene he exits

then the male tourists
pale and short of stature
ogling her figure
she’s both flattered and scared
as she hurries to dance class

she relaxes as
a fair-haired man stops dancing
and confides in her:
he’ll figure out his feelings
without any help from others

a vapid handsome
celebrity quits dance class
he whispers to her
of his plans to move up town
and would she like to move too

she and the tall dark
man briefly slip into the past
they view a few scenes
of a famous violent
movie from a safe distance

the tall dark man
and she flash back to dance class
he sets up his harp
she offers help but with the
caveat: she may not know how


[six tanka on the dreams of 12-4-12. Photo “The Spine of Night” 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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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.

LOOKOUT POINT (photo) & ISN'T THAT DUCKY (dreamku series) by Roswila

ISN’T THAT DUCKY

the small golden phoenix
slides slowly down the long branch
that bends to the ground,
clearly unaware that it’s
slipping toward the packed earth

it collides with the ground
feathers rumple and a stunned look
appears on its face –
I can’t believe it hadn’t known
of its inexorable slide

then I realize
it’s only an ordinary duck –
the bird’s oblivion
no longer seems so egregious
and I feel quite humbled

the duck flaps back up into the bush
perception really is everything


[three tanka topped by a two-liner on a dream of 12-3-12. Photo “Lookout Point” 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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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.

PASSAGE (photo) & [no title] (dreamku) by Roswila

[no title]

she’s deceased
but will birth a daughter
dying into now


[old dreamku on a dream from May 2006. This was during my earliest use of the haiku form with my dreams. I did not even think to write about an entire dream back then, but would just choose one of its impactful images. From this image, it seems I’ve been trying for more years than I’d realized to live in the present moment. It’s also interesting to note that my Tarot card for this coming year of 2013 is Death. Which card is as much if not more about transformation (cleaning away the old so that the new can grow) than about physical death. And that strikes me now as a way of living in the moment. That is, uncluttered with what’s past. Of course, then there’s that tendency to get caught up in worry about the future. But that’s for another dreamku and/or Tarot card to address. Photo “Passage” by Roswila; this appears as a possible Death card in my Found Tarot deck, just keep searching here for "Found Tarot" to see the various cards so far posted for this deck]

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.

Further, haiku afficianado and translator David Gerard said in a recent post: “One of the most important aspects of haiku is that much is left ambiguous, unspoken, undefined. Ludmila Balabanova writes, ‘Haiku isn't a perception shared by the author, but an invitation to the reader to achieve his own enlightenment.’” To that I add that the same might be said of all the dreamku, and dream-based tanka, two-liners, and monoku on this blog.

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.