LANDSCAPE (photo art) & THE SAME OLD STORY (dream narrative) by Roswila

THE SAME OLD STORY

it's still the same old story ... this new
rainbow colored sweatshirt slipped
right on so why can't I get it off? my father
gives me a small tolerant smile -- see if I
ask him for help, I think -- and turn
to my new woman friend saying "Just put
your hands here and here and pull it over
my head as I bend toward you" -- with a huge
look of dismay she responds "But what if I
catch your hair?" -- backing off I mutter
under my breath, not if she does as I'm asking,
why can't folk just help in the way that's needed?

... the fundamental things apply ... no one,
not even medical staff, believes that my red-haired
teenage twin sons don't have diabetes after all,
tests to the contrary people stay wedded
to their preconceptions, while I
simply let their entrenched views be,
grateful for any good news

... as time goes by ... this worn out, nearly
building size truck with tires taller than I, is slated
for demolishment, it hogs the view across the open
space of this martian-like landscape -- then whoosh!
crunch! and it's totally flattened, run over by a newer
model of the same old monster vehicle -- I'm told
in a tone implying telling should not be necessary,
that the squashed one will be left to reduce to rust
and rubble in the alternating glare of the sun
and the unfocussed gaze of the moon ...
it's still the same old story


[dream narrative on three dreams of 11-18-13. Yes, there are snatches of lyrics from that famous song "As Time Goes By" (from the movie "Casablanca") woven throughout this three dream narrative. I recall singing bits of it in and between these dreams. I also woke up singing it in my mind. Photo art "Landscape" (Other Pix, 5923ev2) by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, monoku, free verse, dream narratives -- 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 or narrative 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 story) 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 also pretty much applies to my free verse dream poems as well. As to what I have begun calling dream narratives, they are a different animal, probably most akin to prose poems.

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.