DANCE OF THE DIDJERIDUS (photo) & GLASS DIDJERIDU (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

GLASS DIDJERIDU

The Golden Wizard of the depths suggests
(but you know wizards, it's really a demand)
that I go diving to retrieve my didjeridus

noticing the compulsion to dive and shrugging
it off as "business as usual" I swim down and down
and down to the bottom of the pool's rather more
than usually deep end

and what should my water washed eyes not see but
didjeridus, just three wizards -- the aforementioned
golden one (a color he sees only in his own
mind's eye I'm afraid),

one dark-haired charmer with a smile so bright
it refracts in waving patterns through
the light aqua water, and

a third all in shadow turned away from the
other two as if having more important things
to contemplate than casting spells to stay
here underwater

then as if propelled by a spell I'm at the edge
of the sunlit pool again with one of my favorite
didjeridus, all water logged, its wood starting
to shred sadly by mouthpiece and bell

although it's certain any of my others will be
in the same sorrowful condition (didjeridus
like baths as much as anyone, but not being
downed for an unseemly time) all I do is think
of diving again and another didjeridu appears

but of course this didj is also way too soggy
for any sort of repair that would enable it to sing
again not even the magic abounding by this pool

hey, I think, I have not even felt like playing
a didj in years, it's all that blasted golden wizard's
fault I made that dive ... but it's too late I've
already got the urge to access deep sonorous sounds
and feel the long vibrations in my body and hands
once more as I play a didjeridu

maybe I'll order one of PVC pipe or better yet, bite
the financial bullet and get another crystal one
like the one I gave away so many years ago not
able to afford shipping it (and so much else)
to my new home

yes, crystal, painted with sinuous colorful mosaic-
cum-aboriginal designs -- yes, glass cannot get soggy
and the cost may now be far less than not
responding to this urgent call to feel the depths
pouring into my veins stirred by ancient harmonics,
even if I've been magicked into it


[free verse dream poem on a dream of 9-2-13. Here's a link to an old post of mine about didjeridus, at the top of which is a link to a site where you can listen to and watch some agave didj's being played: didj music. The term "bell" at the end of the sixth stanza references the flaring shape some didj's have at their ends. BTW, I do still have two didj's, one agave and one bamboo. I had six didjerdus back in New York City (among which were a "crystal" one and two PVC's), all of which I gave away on moving here except the agave. I bought the bamboo a short time after moving here. As to the really long poems I'm writing these days: I don't know why. Like my experimenting with form, length of both poem and lines seems to be up for exploration as well. Photo "Dance of the Didjeridus" (4-16-10) 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.