A MEMORY TOO FAR (photo) & ON THE WAY TO WORK (dream tanka series with a monoku) by Roswila

ON THE WAY TO WORK

the landmark old home
we live in awaits the blooming
of the wisteria
its still bare twining branches
arching over the front gate

we three young adults
leave for work together
I bring up the rear
patting the vine as I walk under
as if to say it can take it's time

she and I won't meet
for years and the young man still should
be a teenager
but here they are, turning to say
we have a lift to our jobs

a smiling stranger
sits at the wheel of a van
idling at the curb
my friends get in the front
without hesitation

despite misgivings
I get in the back by myself --
first problem I see:
he doesn't keep his charming
eyes on the dark road ahead

it's fine and dandy
to be so social but not
when one is driving
then I find all the windows
are fully papered over

how many times have
I seen this in homicide shows?
but my gaze is drawn
to the back door windows:
light tumbles lazily through

as if reading my mind
he cheerfully announces
he knows the route
to each of our work places,
even my new one in Manhattan

it's hard not to warm
towards him -- he may not be
highly educated
but he knows his way around,
staying aware in subtle ways

and he may not be
handsome, but shares his toothy
smile like starshine
I could see myself dating him
maybe ... sometime ... down the road ...

when wisteria blooms again on a long lost gate


[tanka series capped by an ersatz monoku on a dream of 6-13-13. The house in this dream was the actual landmark colonial home my family lived in during my teenage years in New York City. I'm not certain it was wisteria that grew on the gate. (It was over 50 years ago and the brain cell that has that information must be snoozing.) But it was wisteria in the dream, and I like both the implied lavender color and the echo in the name to "wistful." If it wasn't wisteria that actually grew there, perhaps my dreaming mind chose to make it so for the same reasons. Photo "A Memory Too 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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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.

IMPASTO (photo) & THE SANTA BARBARA (dreamku series) by Roswila

 
THE SANTA BARBARA

the old time clipper
ship sets sail from the harbor --
I've boarded hoping
for a peaceful sunset trip
up the curving coastline

the ship's crammed with crew
and passengers -- I start to weave
my way below decks

before I can even
get my legs accustomed
to the pitch and yaw
a fight erupts all around
between two flailing factions

I neither know nor
care what this fight's about
nor will I take part --
more furious people rush down,
met by angry folk coming up

twisting completely
about I head to get elbow
room on the poop deck --
stars begin to peek through
the expansive night sky

this is not my fight
I'll wait it out here -- I only
came along for the ride


[several tanka with two dreamku on a dream of 6-12-13. I live maybe 20 minutes by car from Santa Barbara (in Goleta, which is in the county of Santa Barbara). Don't know if there ever was or is a clipper ship named The Santa Barbara, but that was definitely the name of this dream ship. And I certainly do wish I could opt out of all these inner fights I find myself in recently. In a way, I do each day when I write and post a dreamku, and edit and post my photos. LOL, artistic attempts as my life's poop deck. FYI, the poop deck is a raised portion of the top deck at the rear of a vessel. Who's retreating into her head, trying to get above it all? Photo "Impasto" 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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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 FUTURE IS NOW (photo) & ON BEING VETTED (four dream tanka) by Roswila

ON BEING VETTED

her cutting edge phone
runs my response to her through
its virus program
I watch it reject my thinking,
then my poems and photos

"Unknown Source" flashes
again and again on its
silvery gray screen
"Why do I even try," I think
as the screen suddenly clears

"Processing" it says
in a neon-yellow script ...
"Access Permitted,"
it finally flashes slowly,
"Source Recognized and Vetted"

it only knows me now
since it's chanced on a description
of what I look like:
it seems even in cyberspace
appearances are everything


[four tanka on a dream of 6-11-13. Photo "The Future Is Now" 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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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 WEIGHT OF THE NIGHT (photo) & BODY OF DARKNESS (triple dreamku) by Roswila

BODY OF DARKNESS

his job's to entice
souls into empty bodies
nomads of the night

she's just given up
her own day body
a fruitless endeavor

she agrees to enter
a body of darkness,
servant to the night


[dreamku written 9-15-09, revised 6-12-13. This was initially posted as a scifaiku when written in September of 2009, and also posted as a dreamku on this blog back then. I just revised it today and am posting the new version. Though I hasten to add I'm still not all that content with it. I may have been drawn back to it because for a tiny dreamku it has two intense levels: psychological, and a metaphor for our waking/dreaming worlds. It may actually require expanding to ease that discomfort I feel with the writing. However, it's been in this triple dreamku form for almost four years and feels pretty much stuck there. I think I'll let it rest as is. Photo "The Weight of the Night" by Roswila; frequently these days I find myself chasing after the colors in Van Gogh's "Starry Night" -- these come close, but still no cigar)

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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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.

WARP SPEED (photo) & [untitled] (non-dream based scifaiku) by Roswila

glowing neurons ejected
from the chasm -- if only they floated
long enough to grasp


[a non-dream based scifaiku -- i.e. written entirely from imagination -- in May of 2013. After I posted it to a yahoo scifaiku group I realized it also pretty much describes what it's like to know one has dreamed but not be able to recall anything. FYI: As I recently mentioned here, scifaiku is another kissing cousin of haiku, similar to dreamku, with a science fiction, fantasy, cosmologic, or horror theme. Photo "Warp Speed" 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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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.

RIPARIAN TREE (photo) & ON DROWNING (two dreamku series) by Roswila

ON DROWNING
(two dreams from one night)


the night rains silence
as a dark figure sneaks into
the elephant's tent
it quickly ensnares and rapes
the struggling pachyderm

surely someone must
have heard the elephant's thrashing
and wild trumpeting
but no one arrives, not one
fellow circus performer

less loved than some garage sale white elephant
it lies drowning in an unfathomable silence


* * * *

the only birthday
acknowledgment she receives?
a nasty email
but instead of deleting
she begins to edit it

she crops it way back
to a small central image:
she will make something
of this, put it through filter
after filter and re-color it

painful images when mindfully handled
make effective flotation devices


[two dreamku series on two different dreams of 6-9-13. Yeah, pretty intense pair. However, I think these dreams ultimately address how I use my dreamku writing and photos to keep me afloat during dark times, to provide some color and some impetus to move. I've needed these creative efforts a bit more than usual for several days now and am grateful to have them. Photo "Riparian Tree" 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 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 dreamku is not intended as an interpretation of a dream, or even a complete and accurate rendering of one. A dreamku 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 you may do, that in the beginning I stressed "showing, not telling." However, that 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).

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.