KEEPING THE BEAT (photo) & NIGHT ERRANDS (dreamku series) by Roswila

NIGHT ERRANDS

the man’s created
a ballet for kids to dance
the premier begins
a well lit stage with a floor
of golden oak fills with children

what’s more amazing?
the kids’ soul-aching talent
or the complex steps
sparking back and forth between
two different dimensions

both girls and boys wear
shiny form fitting costumes:
girly pearlescent pink
shines out from one dimension,
boyish pale grey from the other

the girls form a square –
beats later, commingled
but inches aslant,
the boys create their square
as the girls start a new shape

like watching an out of focus movie
their forms outline each other echoing

as the ballet ends
the audience releases a
soft collective sigh
yet some still want to know
what’s the meaning of it all

the choreographer tenders a sad smile
then adds, children runs errands, don’t they?


[four tanka, a two-liner, and another tanka, capped by a two-liner on a dream of 4-12-13. As I recalled what the man said in the last line I remembered a book I’d read reviews about: “Night Errands: How Poets Use Dreams,” by Roderick Townley and which I’ve wanted to get for a long time. Well, just before entering this dreamku on my computer, I finally ordered a used copy. In part, this dream is about making poetry out of dreams. However, it holds a lot more than that, but it’s too much to go into here. Photo “Keeping the Beat” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

NIGHT VISION (photo) & TASTE VS. CONTEXT (dream tanka trio) by Roswila

TASTE VS. CONTEXT

at first it’s going
to be The Tarot of Taste:
coral sunset clouds
sit atop tall straight trees on
the “Cotton Candy Forest” card

“Waiting for Coffee”
is suggested by the next card:
the empty bistro walls,
tables, chairs, are all dark wood
and reflect pale blue moonlight

what starts to become
disturbingly clear: the context
brings much more to bear
than hunger compels one
to habitually swallow


[three tanka on a dream of 4-11-13. At one point in this dream I became vaguely lucid, excited that I might be starting to design a fifth and sixth Tarot deck. I’ve actually completely designed one deck, have two others in progress, and an idea for a fourth. See links below the signature to this post; though I hasten to add that the two decks in progress are going very slowly. But back to the dream: it does hold two interesting ideas for deck themes. In the first, the taste of a particular food or libation could be a card’s focus. What does this taste evoke or does one imagine it might? In the second, which would be more subtle and quite a challenge to illustrate, the dream suggests empty rooms. And the focus for each card would be the question: what is the context suggested by this scene? That context we often miss or ignore, reacting out of habit. And that last sentence is to me the heart of this dream. Photo “Night Vision” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

THE PATH SO FAR (photo) & THE PLACE (three dream tanka) by Roswila

THE PLACE

why even try to
understand the experience
and in such detail?
twice down the outdoor stairway
is still twice the mystery

in the dream walk down
or in the re-dreaming each step
wavers in the night,
the railings heavily frosted
by the slick moonlight,

neither footing nor
grasp secure in the fractured light
with only the sense
of an infusing beauty
saying, yes, this is the place


[three tanka on a dream of 4-10-13. Photo “The Path So Far” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

DOUBLE YOLK (photo) & OUR HOUSE (dreamku, tanka, & two-liner) by Roswila

OUR HOUSE

toy red lizards lounge
outside as if sunning themselves
it’s all just for show

for I know something’s
been irrevocably lost,
even as I slip
its second yolk back into
a huge peeled hard boiled egg

and sweet singing runs fingers through my hair:
“our house is a very, very fine house…”


[a dreamku, tanka, and capping two-liner on images from vaguely connected dreams of 4-9-13. The lyrics quoted in the last line are from that lovely old song Our House, by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I was singing that song throughout my dreams last night and it’s become my ear worm for the day. Photo “Double Yolk” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

THEOBROMINE DREAM (photo) & THE GIFT HORSE (dream tanka series) by Roswila

THE GIFT HORSE

not again! I’m caught
wearing only underwear
in a public space
I wander the supermarket
looking for a cover-up

whose rumpled bathrobes
are these? I briefly consider
trying one for size
but decide not to – who knows
who wore them and doing what

a pile of folded
clothes on a shelf looks familiar
ah! they’re some of mine
I’d forgotten that I’d forgotten
to pick them up a long time back

I sift through the stack
of house robes and patterned skirts
relief relaxes me
though I don’t like seeing
all this brown colored fabric

well, I’ve forgotten
something else it seems, my long
ago taste in color
but no matter now, I should stop
looking this gift horse in the mouth


[five tanka on a dream of 4-8-13. Brown is not a favorite color of mine and never has been, or so I thought. The actual gift of this dream only came by an association I made to the color brown and the dream’s ending hint that I should not reject it. This dream pointed me to one extremely important memory involving a chocolate brown jumper, for which I chose the material and color, and which I was making in a school sewing class. The fallout this morning from recalling that sad and complicated memory from a new perspective is already considerable. A gift horse indeed. Photo “Theobromine Dream” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

[unsuccessful photo] & SOLO (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

SOLO

the hummingbird nest
in fiddlehead shadows
a miniscule beak
thrusts insistently upward
mother must be foraging


[tanka written April 3, 2013. This nest and baby were (are) right outside our front gate. I tried taking photos, knowing full well they could not come out and they didn’t of course; too far away. Even if I could have gotten in closer I would not have. I did not want to traumatize either the baby or the possibly returning mother. Many thanks to Don C., a fellow resident, for showing me this sweet sight. By the way, Don said there are two babies in this nest but I only saw one. Photo: unsuccessful picture of that baby hummer in action (middle left of picture), can’t crop in any closer or sharpen any more or it loses all definition but if you click on the photo and it enlarges you can just see the baby bird's head and beak; by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.

JUGGERNAUT (photo) & A NIGHT AT THE OFFICE (triple dreamku series) by Roswila

A NIGHT AT THE OFFICE

I

a much younger guy
shows his disabled old boss how
to stand up and walk
the old man resents this help
even from a disabled person

manipulated
into standing and walking
the old guy goes wild –
he leaps and jumps around
in an hysterical way

hitting an office wall
stops his vengeful frenzy –
that old expression
comes immediately to mind
“God protects fools and children”



II

an old CEO
is suspected of cheating,
of doing something
dishonest after hours
when he’s alone at his desk

I defend him
against these rumors as we
have no evidence:
maybe it’s personal work
or to help his secretary



III

a young dark haired boy’s
deep research is at a level
way beyond his years
the announcement comes at last
to gather for the results

office tensions rise
we’re told the boy’s research
upsets accepted
thought on survival rates after
a sweeping nuclear attack

it would be zero,
not five percent, not three,
but a flat zero
a path that leads to the end
nothing can grow from nothing


[three separate dreamku series on what were three vaguely connected dreams of 4-6-13. Photo “Juggernaut” by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS): The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, and monoku -- 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 understand or interpret 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.

For more in-depth exploration:

-- 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.