THE END (photo) & ON BEING ORPHANED (dreamku series) by Roswila

ON BEING ORPHANED

first, her mother dies
in a suspicious manner
an unacknowledged
sense of danger adding
to the lumbering pall

then, her father dies
in a predictable way
if rather sudden --
she agonizes over how
to tell this all to her brother

a dark haired woman
who'd befriended her father
offers to help her,
waiting quietly by as
her brother enters the room

his trembling hands
and fragile eyes nearly break
what's left of her heart
but he quickly buddies up
with an older male friend

before she knows it
he and his friend take over
making decisions --
she's glad for her father's woman
friend who stands like a lighthouse,

helping her see through
the gloom that she doesn't need
to be included:
she watches the guys plan like young
mobsters coming into their power

if she could feel any happiness at all
she would, for with one sigh she lets it all go


[tanka series topped by a two-liner on a dream of 6-7-13. In some ways this dream/ku's images are metaphorical. And in some ways autobiographical, mashing together many, many years of my life. (E.g., my brother has never resembled a mobster in aspect or deed. But the experience expressed in the first tanka is straight from when my mother died when I was 10, among other feelings and thoughts not in the dream.) It is a positive dream. Way too much to go into here, but there's something I've recently realized: Until one fully separates, one cannot truly connect. Photo "The End" 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.