THE CHESHIRE CAT (photo art) & THAT QUIRKY CAT (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THAT QUIRKY CAT

so, I tell him, there she sat
at the center of my apartment
that large blue-grey cat

(you know, where I lived
for all those long years
before I moved here?)

well, there she sat, front paws
placed ever so precisely,
head high, ears on alert,
golden eyes staring me down

yeah, like a quirky Sphinx
she owned that moment
demanding that I guess
not only the right answer,
but the riddle


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-30-13. I've been dreaming of that actual apartment I lived in for 23 years quite a bit recently. (Not all those dreams appear here in poem form.) And I do really feel challenged to figure out what the issue/riddle is at the center of those years. Seems to me there's some "trick" or deceptive quality to it all given the riddle image I chose intuitively when drafting this poem. And it's also probably an old issue, greatly pre-dating (ancient, like the Sphinx) my years in that apartment. I also associate that cat's posture to statues of the Egyptian Goddess Bast that I've seen. (A quick google netted the interesting fact that Bast was originally a lion goddess, a protectress. And that Her later cat form probably reflected a level of reverence in Egypt comparable to that of the cow in India. Hm.) Photo "The Cheshire Cat" (9-23-13) 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....".

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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.