IN A ZEN GARDEN (photo) & SHOULD I WRITE (dream based prose poem) by Roswila

SHOULD I WRITE

should I write about your visit
my young Asian man it's been a long time
since you last stopped by in a dream
and this was an even briefer visit than usual

and as usual I'm left puzzled as to your meaning
apparently neither friend nor foe and showing no
distinct qualities beyond being from the Orient
(as your neck of the woods was called
in my parents' day --
could that
be a clue
as to who and what you are)

anyway to continue you've also never stirred
any romantic or sexual resonance in my dreams
and although last night you were engaged
to a lovely young Asian woman it seemed
to be happening at a distance not just from me
but from yourself as well proof
(if any can be had for a dream's
hot-off-the-press image)
lies in your total lack of affect
when she decided out of nowhere to break up
with you and you went on your muted way
as if nothing had happened at all

I kept looking back at her as she waited
on tables in that restaurant across the street behind
that plate glass window wishing her motives
and yours were as transparent as the glass
then I turned to you should
I make an effort to connect
I've never felt you welcomed
extensions and I have respected this
even though you clearly have not hesitated
to wander into my mind
unannounced and uninvited

ah well life's not fair even
in dreams maybe someday you'll drop the cloaking
stereotype of inscrutability and let me know why
you sometimes visit me my young Asian man


[prose poem on a dream of 8-25-12. I was tempted to call this a monologue rather than a poem, but the line and stanza breaks that suggested themselves to me are more in the vein of poetry. Photo "In A Zen Garden" 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....".

* * * *

‘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.