BUILDING INTO THE BLUE (photo) & HEAVY TRAFFIC (dreamku series) by Roswila

HEAVY TRAFFIC

midnight rolls softly
along Manhattan* streets
but traffic's quite dense
as if it were still a work day
and all the rushing necessary

chrome lightly sparkles
on dark automobiles of
many vintages,
under moonlight that dis-
courages blaring horns

through this scene, so much
like an old silent movie,
my father turns left
he's such a careful driver
but he's going the wrong way!

all traffic's coming at us, but he
avoids collisions with casual skill

a young cop stops us
it's not actually a one-way
street as I'd figured
but it does have only
one lane going our way

and not only is it
way over at the right side curb
but it's very narrow
"just thirteen inches" says he,
being oh-so-exact

now I ask you,
what use is a car lane
that's so narrow,
unless it's really for bikes
or one is driving a clown car

of course, this entire
dream is like a surreal circus:
me being driven
by my deceased father down
streets thousands of miles away

I thank the blonde cop --
my father drives on, just like
Wrong Way Corrigan**


[several tanka with one two-liner and a capping dreamku. *Manhattan -- borough of New York City where I spent virtually all of my working life, at one job or another. Sometimes if felt as if I spent as much time getting to/from jobs as I did actually working on them and given train delays some days that was true. **Wrong Way Corrigan: my father used this to mean someone who didn't know which end was up. However, after reading this Wikipedia entry I see it really more means someone who's "dumb like a fox." And, yes, this dream became somewhat lucid (knowing one is dreaming while one is dreaming) by the last tanka. Photo "Building Into the Blue" 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....".

* * * *

‘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.