THE MISSING PIECE (photo) & THE BIG PUZZLE (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE BIG PUZZLE

we stumble across
the puzzle, literally,
as we stub our toes
on the edges of its large
floppy, rubber mat pieces

the gargantuan
shapes litter the ground as far
as we can see
my woman friend and I sense
that assembled it’s a U.S. map

it will take two pairs
of hands to move any piece
we’re anxious to start
a third person, a young man,
enters the scene observing

my gal friend and I
think we’ve found the Maine piece
he stays our hefting
and placing of it to see if
“Maine” fits where it should or not

he questions us each
on our personal pasts
slowly dribbling
our stories into shoe boxes
like sands from the days of our lives

and how will all this
grit gathered grain by grain
help solve the puzzle,
I silently think, how will it
help us see the big picture

my fingers itch to take a flyer and try “Maine”
over there, in the upper right, what could it hurt?


[six tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 3-30-13. The words “days of our lives” at the end of the fifth tanka are the name of a long-running soap opera. During its opening music a man says “Like sands through an hour glass, so are the days of our lives.” I thought of this quote in the dream as I watched the sand dribbling into the boxes. And this dream/ku is an interesting response to my recent dribblings here about my New York City memories. I also like that possible pun on “Maine” and “main.” (Need to do some thinking about that.) Photo “The Missing Piece” 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:

-- very brief comparison of dreamku and haiku: DREAMKU ARE NOT HAIKU

-- 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....".

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‘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.