A MEMORY TOO FAR (photo) & ON THE WAY TO WORK (dream tanka series with a monoku) by Roswila

ON THE WAY TO WORK

the landmark old home
we live in awaits the blooming
of the wisteria
its still bare twining branches
arching over the front gate

we three young adults
leave for work together
I bring up the rear
patting the vine as I walk under
as if to say it can take it's time

she and I won't meet
for years and the young man still should
be a teenager
but here they are, turning to say
we have a lift to our jobs

a smiling stranger
sits at the wheel of a van
idling at the curb
my friends get in the front
without hesitation

despite misgivings
I get in the back by myself --
first problem I see:
he doesn't keep his charming
eyes on the dark road ahead

it's fine and dandy
to be so social but not
when one is driving
then I find all the windows
are fully papered over

how many times have
I seen this in homicide shows?
but my gaze is drawn
to the back door windows:
light tumbles lazily through

as if reading my mind
he cheerfully announces
he knows the route
to each of our work places,
even my new one in Manhattan

it's hard not to warm
towards him -- he may not be
highly educated
but he knows his way around,
staying aware in subtle ways

and he may not be
handsome, but shares his toothy
smile like starshine
I could see myself dating him
maybe ... sometime ... down the road ...

when wisteria blooms again on a long lost gate


[tanka series capped by an ersatz monoku on a dream of 6-13-13. The house in this dream was the actual landmark colonial home my family lived in during my teenage years in New York City. I'm not certain it was wisteria that grew on the gate. (It was over 50 years ago and the brain cell that has that information must be snoozing.) But it was wisteria in the dream, and I like both the implied lavender color and the echo in the name to "wistful." If it wasn't wisteria that actually grew there, perhaps my dreaming mind chose to make it so for the same reasons. Photo "A Memory Too Far" 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.