THE CHALICE (photo) & IN A NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY (dream haibun) by Roswila

IN A NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY
(a dream haibun)

A young woman's voice lifts through the stale air in the over-crowded subway car. Sigh, I think hopelessly, another out of work parent begging for food or coming unwound altogether. But this shout out is a new sort of challenge to each of our protective reactions. "Write a haiku about right now," she proclaims, "and give it to me." Suddenly, 'ku after 'ku is flying toward her on pieces of paper like origami cranes. My own is the last to rise into the surprise filled air:

it happens again
a New Yorker reopens
a path to the heart

[haibun on a dream of 10-24-13. Just in case you're not familiar with the form, a haibun is a prose, often poetic paragraph capped by a haiku. It can also be a series of same. The ending haiku can either reiterate the prose or extend it in some way. I actually wrote this ending 'ku in my sleep. Though I should note it is probably more properly termed a senryu, which form is at times almost indistinguishable from haiku (at least to me). I'm not surprised I had an ersatz Buddhist dream as I've started reading a book with a Buddhist approach. It's also not surprising I dreamt about New York City. I've recently been thinking a lot about my 60 years of life there before moving here to CA. And I would say one of the biggest challenges to my adult sanity and serenity was traveling to/from work daily in the subways. "The more things change ..." No more subways but the challenges are always here. Photo "The Chalice" (4-27-11) 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.