THE WEIGHT OF THE NIGHT (photo) & BODY OF DARKNESS (triple dreamku) by Roswila

BODY OF DARKNESS

his job's to entice
souls into empty bodies
nomads of the night

she's just given up
her own day body
a fruitless endeavor

she agrees to enter
a body of darkness,
servant to the night


[dreamku written 9-15-09, revised 6-12-13. This was initially posted as a scifaiku when written in September of 2009, and also posted as a dreamku on this blog back then. I just revised it today and am posting the new version. Though I hasten to add I'm still not all that content with it. I may have been drawn back to it because for a tiny dreamku it has two intense levels: psychological, and a metaphor for our waking/dreaming worlds. It may actually require expanding to ease that discomfort I feel with the writing. However, it's been in this triple dreamku form for almost four years and feels pretty much stuck there. I think I'll let it rest as is. Photo "The Weight of the Night" by Roswila; frequently these days I find myself chasing after the colors in Van Gogh's "Starry Night" -- these come close, but still no cigar)

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.