DARK GARDEN (photo art) & THE FAMILY UP THE STREET

THE FAMILY UP THE STREET

it's all so sad, they say, the children of that family
get shuttled back and forth -- a night with their
philandering father, the next morning dropped off early
at their mother's house-of-who-knows-what-repute
up the street -- and do you think the father
(that dark-haired oily would-be charmer)
actually expects others to believe there's good will
behind those huge bouquets he gives his eldest
(a son ,who holds each away from himself,
top down as if it might bite?) worse yet,
does the father truly believe his own charade?
and where's the mother in all this? it's said
no one's seen her in many years (rumor has it
she's very crazy, locked away in their house
up the street, dribbling only nonsense
from her heavily lipsticked mouth) --
and what of that oldest child, a teenager
but looking already like a grown man
as he herds the wavering line of his many siblings
up the driveway to their house (that's somehow always
hidden in a fog as if too ashamed to be seen) --
and what of the rage that rolls in almost visible waves
off his shoulders bent by the burdens of shepherding
and shuttling between Charybdis and Scylla,
while hefting each gargantuan bouquet from his father
(if only the inevitable trail of bruised and fallen petals
could lead him and his siblings out of this endless
loop of a life) -- it's all so sad, they say


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-7-13. Yeah, I think S.A.D. (Seasonal Affect Disorder) has finally hit me. And on top of that there's a full moon due on the 17th (me and my waxing gibbous moon hyper-sensitivity). This is not to deny the issues this dream poem points to, not at all. Just to acknowledge that my responses to them are less constructive and more emotionally dark than they might be otherwise given the time of year and month. Charybdis & Scylla. Photo art "Dark Garden" (11-9-13) 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.