BETWIXT & BETWEEN (photo) & WHAT SEEMS BEST (dreamku series) by Roswila

WHAT SEEMS BEST

a pile of letters
lands on my desk for review
then mailing "Pronto!"
all seems in order ... no wait,
my boss hasn't signed some yet

but she's out to lunch
(in both senses of that term
today it appears)
and of course with my bad luck
the unsigned are to big banks

whether soliciting
donations or paying bills,
the banking letters
will represent my boss to
powerful executives

and how would it look
if I were to sign her name
and initial it,
a common enough practice
but it betrays her absence

damned if I do, damned
if I don't, for even if I
meet her need for speed
and sign her name, she'll blame me
should the banks ignore these letters

ah well, since I'm always her fall guy anyway
I'll quit worrying and do what seems best to me


[five tanka with a capping two-liner on a dream of 10-26-13. BTW, it was common practice (and probably still is) during my working years for an assistant or secretary -- with her boss's permission -- to sign letters in the boss's name in his/her absence, writing her own initials after that signature. However, not usually on important correspondence because it makes clear the boss did not read and approve the letter. To this dreamku series itself: It has been in my unposted folder for two months as I've not really felt one way or the other about it. But today I'm struck by the underlying theme of "damned if I do and damned if I don't." A feeling I have had most of my adult life. Though I am getting better and better at what I do in those last two lines. Come to think of it, the dream may have been a "heads up" about a situation that was developing. (Not like the dream scenario, but with that same underlying theme.) Photo "Betwixt & Between" (4-18-10 10011e) 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. 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....".

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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.