WHAT'S COOKIN' (photo) & [untitled] (dreamku) by Roswila

she dreams up breakfast
through the long hot night
silver haired crock pot


[initially a scifaiku on a dream of 9-8-09, revised slightly into a dreamku on 5-31-13. Scifaiku is another kissing cousin of haiku, similar to dreamku, with a science fiction, fantasy, cosmologic, or horror theme. The early scifaiku version did not have the words "silver haired," (hopefully) leaving the reader's imagination free to imagine a living crock pot (how's that for fantasy?). But on stumbling across the scifaiku version a couple weeks ago I itched to return it completely to its dream source. Which was not a dream image of a living crock pot, but a dreamed sense of constant cooking. It took days to find a simple and satisfying (at least for me) solution by adding just those two first words in the last line. Taking the crock pot out of the realm of the "literal" into the metaphorical. And I also hope, retaining a bit of the humor I felt on waking and trying to get the dream down on the page. Of course, all of this fuss probably could have been avoided by presenting the original version (i.e. sans "silver haired") as a dreamku. Just what something is called will often determine how it's interpreted. (I have to resist taking off from that statement into the influence and uses of titles and names.) However, I also wanted a more melodious third line. So additional words were necessary for both the sense and the music. Photo "What's Cookin'" 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 relate to 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.

Also please note that a dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku is my attempt to get down dream imagery/action that grabs me and, as I write about it, elicits my conscious written association and response. Nor do I believe that one has to remember dreams in order for them to do their work. In my understanding, we are much more than our conscious selves.

You may also note in any further reading on dreamku you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that has been changing for some time now. I now tend to "show" (the dream narrative) and cap if off with a "tell" (some reaction and/or insight I've had to the dream as I was writing about it).

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.