ARCTIC ROSE (photo) & A SLIPPERY SLOPE (two dream tanka) by Roswila

A SLIPPERY SLOPE

why are her breasts bared
and how can she keep them covered
while eating pizza,
she’s really craving a slice
but her hands and arms are full

and that know-it-all
guy from the doctor’s office
why’s he lounging
and spouting: you can have what
you want, just watch out for the ice


[a tanka pair on a dream of 4-26-13. Photo “Arctic Rose” by Roswila (new version of a recently posted photo)]

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.

DARK RIDERS (photo) & A FLASH OF WILDNESS (four dream tanka) by Roswila

A FLASH OF WILDNESS

in times long ago
their horses would have trampled
howling wolves as
the riders hunted in a wild
tumult down the midnight beach

but now no danger
rises with the tossing tide
what’s that expression?
oh, yes, that’s what it is:
all form and no substance

yet something must be
fed by these hollow riders,
these shadow fakers
riding along the pale sands
like the Wild Hunts of yore

maybe it’s the moon’s
cold glare that raises hairs on the
back of one’s neck and
lends mounts, dogs, and posturing
riders a flash of wildness


[four tanka on a dream of 4-25-13. Photo “Dark Riders” 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.

NEW FACE IN TOWN (photo) & FAMILY FABLES (two dreamku series) by Roswila

FAMILY FABLES

they’d not intended
for the drug to kill the teen –
just to curtail his
wont to cry openly despite
the denial ruling their roost

and now how will they
silence his ghost as it sobs from
the top floor window –
truth always seems to leak out
water through the tightest seal


* * * *

the belleek* statue’s
beautiful face falls off
it lies in one piece

it can easily
be glued back on without
a crack marring it
but the patterns where the face
used to be prompt a pause

they swirl, inviting
lingering touch all around them
eyes shut tight for once


*a fine Irish china
[two dreamku series on two separate dreams of 4-24-13. Photo “New Face in Town” 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.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY (photo) & SOMETHING STUPID (dream tanka trio) by Roswila

SOMETHING STUPID

they may never know
that I still paint as always,
but alone, at night --
that I gave up long ago:
no more risky displays,

no more failed attempts
to invite us all to peek beyond
protective habits,
to doff the constricting fear
of being thought stupid

no, now each painting
flies away in the night wind’s grip
as it leaves my fingers
yet sadly, it’s all so simple:
stupid’s in the eye of the beholder


[three tanka on a dream of 4-21-13. Photo “Window of Opportunity” 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.

PLEASE DON'T PET THE ANIMALS (photo) & NO, NO, NOT AGAIN (dreamku series) by Roswila

NO, NO, NOT AGAIN

the dog approaches
at a casual pace with
obvious delight,
morphing from a black and white
terrier into a spaniel

its long wavy golden
hair sparkles in the sunlight
disturbing her deeply:
no, no, not again, this can’t
be starting all over

she doesn’t want it
invading her affections
instigating hope
only to disappear one day
as if it’d never been

no, she’ll not react, not touch its soft fur,
not let it pry its unflagging way back in


[three tanka topped by a two-liner on a dream of 4-19-13. Photo “Please Don’t Pet the Animals” 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.

REFLECTION AT SUNSET (photo) & LITTLE CHILD LOST (dream tanka series) by Roswila

LITTLE CHILD LOST

detailed descriptions
of each child’s actions fill
the afternoon sky,
a single calligraphed list
appearing per child

all one needs do is
blink and as if on an LCD
screen the written lists
roll across the cooling sky,
a movie trailer? novel notes?

but something fouls up
this oh-so-smooth rolling:
one list is not done,
one child’s actions show up
only in the vaguest terms

dark brackets keep it
separate from the other lists
as if to say “Delete
or work on later, it doesn’t
matter to the bigger picture”

but who was this child?
what story might be gleaned from
these quarantined words
that stand as a stark aside in
the artfully embellished sky


[five tanka on a dream of 4-20-13. Photo “Reflection at Sunset” 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.