HORSE HEAD #7 (photoshopped sketch) & THE OLD GREY MARE: A Play for Two Voices (dreamku series) by Roswila

THE OLD GREY MARE:
A Play for Two Voices


your butt's being sued
for every red cent you have,
as I'm sure you know
just let the dang show go on
and stop all this lollygagging

great-grandma's put the
kibosh on any start time
other than two o'clock
and she's adding a second
thinker to the performance

another thinker's
no problem -- I'll split camera
time between the two
it's worked quite well in the past
with less experienced minds

great-grandma doesn't give a hoot, she's stuck
in her ways, an old gray mare in a bog

and I will repeat:
the show must go on, even
if it's of two minds


[three tanka, with a two-liner, capped by a dreamku on a dream of 6-1-13. There actually were two distinct voices in this dream, the "I" and the other one. The dream was a lot more detailed and took a long time to get to its point. I've boiled it down here to a quick exchange, whereas the dream was more like a convoluted and polite argument. The reference above to "the old gray mare" was my conscious association to the dream's feeling tone about "great-grandma." Here are the most commonly sung lyrics of that folk/children's song:

Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.
Many long years ago, many long years ago.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Not to end on that note (if you'll pardon the unintended pun), this is actually a positive dream. It's reflecting my increasingly conscious sense that I cannot let my emotions (one mind) totally determine what I want and need to do (the other mind). Because what counts most right now is what I do, not so much what I feel. Photo "Horse Head #7" by Roswila: an old sketch of mine, color inverted, with a Photoshop filter applied twice)

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.