FIRE IN THE HOLE (photo) & WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY? (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY?

she's driving her little volks
right into the wind wakes
of the two side-by-side
solid fire-engine red
big rigs

I hold my breath hoping
she'll pull off the road
I'm in the suicide seat
but don't feel at all
free to speak

she has generously offered
to take me on this drive
how can I question her
judgment and skill
as a driver

then one of the huge rigs
topples over tumbling
across our path while
from the other lane
more red rigs rise

like a glossy demonic herd
they roar towards us why
won't she just turn off
this hellish road I
heatedly think


[free verse poem on a dream of 8-3-12. Although not written in any of the usual dreamku, tanka, two-liner or monoku forms this did fall into a sort of form of its own. You may note that each stanza is five lines, each succeeding line in a stanza shorter. I did not choose this form. Only after the first draft did I notice that most of the stanzas were already "shaped" as they appear above. So I tweaked the stanzas that weren't to make the poem's form fully consistent. As to the poem content? Yeah, why the blazes didn't I speak up? It's actually a much more complicated dream than it may appear to be. Another dream from the same night also cast me in a position of no power or control. And, believe it or not, that's as it needs to be right now. Sometimes "undergoing" is far more important than "overcoming." Which may just be a rationalization for the fact that it's simply unavoidable. Photo "Fire in the Hole" 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.