BEFORE THE FALL (photo) & ON SAVING TODDLERS, TEENS & THE WORLD (dream based prose poem) by Roswila

ON SAVING TODDLERS, TEENS, & THE WORLD


Dream one:

my long time friend's energetic toddler son with shiny dark hair is missing his mother and I had boarded the subway train in rush hour with him and now he's nowhere to be found I elbow my way through car after car of tired commuters calling out for him "Peter! Peter!" but before I'm totally frantic or taken down by an angry passenger my friend tells me he's been found and that some stranger's child is now missing I nearly lose it how can anyone let go of a child's hand for even a second in the shadowy crowds milling about a subway


Dream two:

we fill the old sedan:
sibling teens (two girls and a boy) in the front seat turn to talk
with me as I sit somewhere in the middle and in the back seat
my dark haired male friend only a few years older than the
oldest teen with a young boy at his side the three teens
try to hide the fact that they're running away from
home but it's quite clear to me and I sense they
have good reason to do so however I respect
their self-protectiveness and approach the
subject only tangentially at first when the
middle girl sibling (fresh faced with shoulder
length brunette hair) sighs and says yes they are
running away and please just let them go the young
man in the back seat speaks out "I never knew it was
possible to love someone who wasn't related by blood but
I love this boy next to me as if he were my son or little brother"
tears nearly choking off his resonant voice


Dream three:

my friend's list of those she's
going to help fills a small
thick square folder in which
she's written down the names
of people and organizations
one after the other and from
the determined look on her
face as she passes the folder
to me she thoroughly expects
to do it all and don't I want to
join her (hint hint) I feel the
same urgent tug she clearly
does but know it would be
self-destructive to take it all
on yet something says just
read through the names (just
read them) five organizations
fairly jump off the pages at me
yes these are large established
groups and well-reputed I point
out the name of each to her
saying maybe I can support
the work of these five charities


[three part prose poem on three separate dreams of 8-26-13. I'm not sure of the significance in this dream of the name Peter, but do find it interesting that it means stone or rock. A comment on the playing around I've been doing recently with the shape of poems: I really don't know why. I just started doing it and am finding it fun. Whether it adds anything to the poems I really don't know. (The poem shapes are best viewed with browser "text size" [under "View"] set to "medium," i.e. in Internet Explorer.) I also don't know if the even more prosey writing, odd line breaks, and run-on phrasing I'm prone to these days is effective either. All of these departures from my long-standing dreamku parameters, feel almost urged upon me, as if something new is evolving. Only time will tell if this is true and also if it's worth anything. Other than as this playful break, a time in which to stretch my writing legs a bit. Photo "Before the Fall" (6-11-09) by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, monoku, free verse, etc. -- 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 dream poem is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. It 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 (the specific forms of dreamku, tanka, two-liners and monoku) you may do here, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, this 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). This pretty much applies to free verse dream poems as well.

For more in-depth exploration of the dreamku forms specifically (and one post in which I also address my photo choices):

-- 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 connections & other blogs: Charter Member of the United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS); ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.