DROPPING THE VEILS (photo) & BENEATH THEM ALL (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

BENEATH THEM ALL

she chips layers and layers of masks away
the painted plaster rains down in murky
rainbow colored chunks

an eyeless blank white form
begins to appear beneath them all
maybe it needs poetry to complete it
but she stays the anxious urge

this time she'll let
the face-shaped form
emerge from the dust
brush pens ink paint
will not touch it

not until it's fully freed
and speaking
for itself


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-5-13. This was one of the last dreams of the night, a very busy dream night. Tomorrow I'll probably post the lengthy one I had very early in the evening. It, too, addresses (albeit in a very different fashion) the issue of letting go of attempts to control (among other things). Both dreams are more than usually welcome. I'd determined in my evening journal work to ask my dreams for help, as I was feeling stuck about how to proceed with that particular effort. Although I forgot to incubate a dream (i.e., consciously ask for help or response from a dream as one goes to sleep), clearly my dream world got the message anyway. I hear this dream suggesting I not so much do anything, as wait. That whatever is stuck will emerge and "speak." It also supports all the work I've been doing "unmasking" myself in that journal work. Peeling, exfoliating, chipping away the obfuscating, the misguided, the pretentious layers. Photo "Dropping the Veils" (9-5-13) 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.