PARDON MY LAUGHTER (photo) & WHO SAID (dreamku series) by Roswila

WHO SAID

the familiar young
fair-haired teacher walks around
among our desks
I’m not sure why I signed up
for his rather New Age course

in my opinion
things New Age are quite old hat
but yet, here I sit --
his enthusiasm’s catching
I raise my hand to join in

a pretty blond woman
in her twenties speaks up
she wants to know how
what he’s teaching relates
to his course description

the furrows in her
brow deepen and a sorrow
permeates her voice
she just wants to learn how
to live a principled life,

a life of moral
integrity -- I’m caught between
intense resonance
with her, and embarrassment
I’d been enjoying his style

what a tempest in
a teapot, an illusory
Charybdis and Scylla

it’s really just more apples and oranges
who said there’s anything wrong with fun?


[five tanka, a dreamku, and a two-liner on a dream of 12-21-12. Photo “Pardon My Laughter” 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.

"WINDOW SEAT..." [non-dream haiga] by Roswila

The above is a haiga: a haiku on an image. The haiku is not based on a dream and was written in 1999 when I was still living in New York City. (I've only been here in California for five years). I took the photo a couple years ago in a California parking lot on a very rainy day sitting in the front seat of a car. It's clearly been computer manipulated. This haiga fits both the really cold weather we've been having the past couple of days and my mood. I'd originally thought to use it as my email holiday card. But ultimately went with something more lively and warm-colored to fit the way this season of holidays usually comes packaged.

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 MADDING CROWD (photo) & THE FAT MAN (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE FAT MAN

he’s the long standing
bane of her existence
this mean bald fat man

why does he follow
her from job to job, waiting
to threaten and make
surreptitious fun of her
in the rush hour crowds

anger takes over
and she stops trying to
understand why
she rounds on him yanking him
totally off balance

he crashes down
the victory turns to ashes
in her mouth
she's certain he’ll persist
and escalate his stalking

fighting a tide of nausea she knows:
it’s not over ‘til the fat man dies


[a dreamku and three tanka capped by a two-liner, on a dream of 12-19-12. I actually thought that last line as I was dreaming, though not as a line for a dreamku but as a verbalization of the feeling. And as I did, I caught that it’s framed like the expression “It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings.” I’ll only add I had this dream very early in the evening. Subsequent dreams got less and less agonized. I think recall of those other dreams got largely rubbed out by the intensity of this first one. The last vague recall I have is of a light discussion with two other women about each of us trying out totally new hairstyles. This in itself is interesting, as I usually associate hair to thoughts. And this makes the fat man's baldness all the more pointed (i.e, the issue being thoughtlessness, mine or anyone else's). Photo “The Madding Crowd” 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.

HORSE HEAD 5 (sketch) & THE SCINTILLATING RIDE (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE SCINTILLATING RIDE

my new acquaintance,
a senior gal like myself,
is a huge jazz fan
and it’s the time of year when
top notch players flood the town

she holds a free live
jazz concert in her large
dark wood apartment
riffs ride the air out of room
after room stealing our breath

afterwards, in the
suddenly silent kitchen
I offer her my thoughts
“It was an embarrassment
of riches,” I say carefully,

“maybe next time, book
fewer musicians and we’ll
enjoy each group more”
even as the words leave
my mouth I have second thoughts:

why look a gift horse in the mouth
just enjoy the scintillating ride


[four tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 12-18-12. Sketch (scanned and computer manipulated): “horse head 5” 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.

CONJURATION (photo) & SURPRISING (dream tanka & dreamku) by Roswila

SURPRISING

we sit side-by-side
in the large first balcony
of the old theatre,
New York City's Mayor Blumberg
and I, his call-girl date

more surprising than
being his tart for the night:
we like each other

[an old dream tanka and dreamku on an old dream from January of 2009. My dream recall has been very sketchy, on and off, for a few days. I’ll be doing a Tarot reading on this later to see if I can ferret out what’s going on as this is highly unusual. Using Tarot with dreams has been said to be like dreaming about a dream. And, as I’ve said here before, for me that’s highly appropriate as the answer to or growing edge of any dream is often in a subsequent dream. In any case, I chose to post this old dream/ku as I’ve been thinking even more than usual about New York City, where I lived all my life until just barely 5 years ago. Of course, there’s a truck load of other stuff (both then and now) in this old dream/ku but I’ll also explore all that in the Tarot reading. Photo “Conjuration” 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.

THAT SINKING FEELING (photo) & FLOTSAM (dream tanka trio) by Roswila

FLOTSAM

ah, Dad, always good
to see you, but what were you
doing in these dreams?
alerting me to them or
preventing any recall?

you’re all that stands out
from the night’s blurry business,
as if abandoned
on morning’s shore by the quick
retreat of a messy king tide

were you too heavy
to be swept away with all
the other flotsam,
an unfathomable clue
to what I simply can’t grasp?


[three tanka on the dreams of 12-16-12. A “king tide” is as one might guess a very high tide. We just had one here on the California coast a couple days ago. Photo “That Sinking Feeling” 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.