LESSON IN BLACK & WHITE (photo) & THE OLD BLACK & WHITE TABBY (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE OLD BLACK AND WHITE TABBY

she balances the big old black and white tabby
that she's just adopted in her arms, along with
an aluminum pie plate of food for him

her own lunch break's over and she's headed
back to the office through the irritating crush
of shoppers and workers on this raucous
mid-town city sidewalk

she worries this is not enough of a meal for her
new cat, carefully setting the cat and plate down
to buy one more small serving

the old striped tabby sees his chance, takes
the pie plate in his teeth, and absconds with it
zig-zagging quickly between the legs
of startled pedestrians

"Blast it all!" she thinks, "Even if I had the time
my bad knees won't permit my chasing down
that wretch, especially in this crowd!"

just as she accepts her loss and heads to take
the long elevator ride back up to her thankless
job, the cat sans pie plate, appears quietly
at her feet, as if waiting to be picked up

she lifts him into her embrace, grateful as much
that she won't have to live with deserting him
on these uncertain streets, as for his
apparent budding attachment to her

he's quite an armful, this large old tabby, even
without a plate of food to juggle, but harder
to grasp is the inquiry that rises along with
the elevator to the 18th floor:

"Why I am back here on this awful job, in this
dizzying dirty city, this personal purgatory
I'd thought I'd escaped?"

the cat wiggles gently in her arms, as if
he were settling in for a long ride


[free verse poem on a dream of 8-20-13. Photo "Lesson in Black & White" by Roswila (8-4-13)]

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 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.