THE ALCHEMIST (photo art) & TEMPERANCE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

TEMPERANCE

the bright white ladder against
the white of the beach house
clapboard wall nearly blinds me
in the noon sun as I make
this taboo climb to my friend's
bedroom window, while the light
on my shoulders -- bent to hauling
and balancing up the ladder -- weighs
on me both warm and wet
I pause and glance back:
the Tarot scene of "Temperance"
lives in the air above the unusually
still sea, as if this sky-wide angel
forever consumed by the task
of pouring water into water
and back up again, without
a break or drip, eclipses
any other worldly turbulence --
I wryly mumble "As if I needed
to be reminded this is a difficult
path I'm on," and turn back
to the climb thinking any scene
with an angel in it can't be all
that bad, but then again, enough
of symbols and analysis ... one hand,
one foot ... grip, release, grip ...
the window ledge nears ...
the challenge in my hands
at this moment ... at any moment
more than enough

[free verse poem on a dream of 11-4-13. Another Tarot dream. Seems I'm starting to make up for the years in which they were quite a rarity. I remember reading somewhere that Temperance's path on the Tree of Life (from Netzach to Tiphareth) is one of the hardest. (Tiphareth, by the way, is sometimes called the "heart" of the Tree.) Here's Temperance in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:

The photo at the top of this post is one of mine. It's titled "The Alchemist" (10-5-09) and has been posted as one of my Found Tarot cards as a version of Temperance. (An alchemical process is sometimes seen as represented in Temperance.) And C.G. Jung wrote about the symbolism of alchemy as being intimately related to the psychoanalytical process. One last link, to another photo of mine in which I see Temperance, even more so than in "The Alchemist" above.]

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.