RAMBLING ON (photo art) & RED & BLUE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

RED & BLUE
(two dreams from one night)

I.

she lives in a huge sunny mall
her room simply a deep white nook
along one wall
I ask this small dark-haired woman
if there's any door to close
she shakes her head no
as if I've asked a puzzling
or obvious question
maybe it's her youth that makes
her so casual about issues
of safety and privacy
but then I notice her hospital bed
and medical paraphernalia
it amazes me that this seriously ill
lady-in-red lives by herself
she says she's up to a walk today
and that I can sit on her bed
'til she gets back if I'd like to
I watch her hunched red form
disappear awkwardly into
the crowd and bright lights
out in the mall
like a bird
no longer able to fly


II.

he approaches the pair of jazz musicians
asking if he can improvise with them
his mental handicap somehow telegraphed
by his posture and manner of speech
the color blue brightens not only his eyes
but various stickers and gew-gaws
on the instruments he carries
draped and clattering around him
like a one man band
a growing premonition
permeates the scene:
music imbues this large young man
with an intelligence
and balance all their own


[free verse poem on two dreams of 10-19-13. At one level I think these are addressing physical (I.) and emotional (II.) issues. I'd gone to sleep in a rather despairing mood and both dreams do seem to say (at least in part) "just keep on keepin' on." On the colors red and blue, no, I did not see them in the dream. I just knew as I was dreaming what the colors were. Photo art "Rambling On" (10-29-09) 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.