LATE ROSE (photo) & ON PARENTING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

ON PARENTING

we three relax on a ledge rimming
the second story of the ocean view
bungalow: a mother, her tiny
barely year-old blonde girl, and I

it's an odd place and rather late
in the afternoon to picnic but that does
seem to be what we are doing
on this sunny late summer day

the little girl tells us her father (whom we
know just passed away under unknown
circumstances) came to her last night
in a dream

we think this is wonderful and smile
encouraging her to continue sharing
but she becomes upset, looking to
her mother and whispering "Don't
let him come back..."

as much as this disturbs me to hear
from her I'm also grateful she can be
so honest with us

she clearly needs reassurance and
a hug (why isn't her mother doing anything
but sitting there with lightly knitted
brows and musing?)

the little girl and I have only just met so
I hesitate to touch her but reach out anyway
and ever so briefly stroke her arm

just then an infant boy rolls onto the scene
he's only a large head (yes, no body,
nothing remarkable, really!) with dark
hair and eyes, and almost bounces
with unrestrained ebullience

holy hannah! he could roll right off this
narrow ledge and where the blazes
are his parents, I think, putting a hand
out to stop his impending plummet

as I reach, his father peers over the ledge
from beneath a baseball cap smiling
sheepishly and quickly picking up
his endlessly energetic baby

the sun's setting flings bright spears
of light through the palms along the beach
and between the crowd of cottages
maybe that's why tears come to my eyes


[free verse poem on a dream of 8-30-13. This is one of mine that I fear will be viewed as unpoetic, i.e. not "really" poetry. And as I've mentioned here before (1) the dream itself is metaphorical and (2) there are such creatures as prose poems and narrative poems. Actually, I think many of my dream poems (both free verse and dreamku format) might also be referred to as narrative poems. I've had a similar on-going discussion with myself on my photography blog. It seems that what to call something, what to label it, becomes almost more important than the thing itself. As if by my calling my writing here poems when by many people's lights they may not be, somehow makes them unworthy then of consideration or contemplation for just whatever it is they are. I'm hearing that famous quote of Gertrude Stein's "A rose is a rose is a rose." I've read she's saying "that simply using the name of a thing already invokes the imagery and emotions associated with it." I'd agree. It's a poetic device I use often, hoping it will resonate for readers. But we get caught in a very sticky wicket when we assume we all agree with just what qualities in the name (in our time, in our society) are lived out in the thing. I'd much prefer to understand her saying that no matter what a thing's name, it still is what it is. Which I've read is the usual misunderstanding of that quote. So be it. Misunderstanding seems to be the thing here (pun intended). Photo "Late Rose" by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.

EARTH DANCE (photo) & A NIGHT OF BACK TO BACK REHEARSALS (free verse, dream based poem) by Roswila

A NIGHT OF BACK TO BACK REHEARSALS


First Act Run-Through

she sings her solo for the first time without
a prompter in the wings

"old man river, that old man river, he must know
somethin' but don't say nothin' ...
you and me we sweat and strain, body all achin'
and wracked with pain... tote that barge, lift that bale,
get a little drunk and yah lands in ja-..."

(she interjects sotto voce "oy, this next note does me in")

"-ail" ending neatly on that famous low note

it's odd for a woman to sing this song even in her
best alto with a solid hit on that deep note splitting
a single syllable into two

yet the set decoration for this song seems even
more strange: human size glass bottles punctuate
the evening wharf scenery, each a different curving
shape and translucent color, the last bottle slim
straight and swirling with deep shades
of iridescent sea blue

"... but old man river he just keeps rollin' along..."


Second Act Run-Through

my goodness what can't this young newscaster do:
now they have her ballet dancing!

her silver lamé jump suit catches the stage lights
like moonlight, her movement sinuous and
confident yet she doesn't complete any of a series
of en pointe spins with the usual leap, but rather
a graceful winding of arms and legs

then I realize she's at least three months
pregnant, honoring both babe and dance
with her grounded choreographic changes

she finishes her solo on the old oak stage
with a rising flourish of unfurling limbs,

Pythia's urgent answer to the moon


[free verse poem on two dreams of 8-29-13. It's been some time since I've mentioned this in comments to my posts, so it probably bears repeating. I come from a show business family (grandparents in Vaudeville, father a singer, etc.) so theatre imagery in my dreams has more layers even than most dream images. And I took ballet as a child and loved it, 'til my early teens when other factors led to my giving it up. I also used to buy season tickets to the ballet, back decades ago, and read a great deal about it. So ballet, too, is a jam packed dream image. This was one of those dreams, too, in which I "actually" sang; i.e. felt in the dream as if I were really singing. Though I have to admit I did not "sing" the lyric excerpts in the order above (which follows how they are written). But jumped about a bit in the dream, trying to recall the words or emphasizing a phrase. I did try writing the fragmented lyrics in the order I remember singing them. However, it was just a "massa confusa." Omigosh! I just recalled as I typed here that Jung says the term "massa confusa" of alchemy corresponds to a chaotic state of mind. Well, no kidding! Photo "Earth Dance" (7-20-10) by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.

BASHFUL (photo) & MAYBE (dream tanka series) by Roswila

MAYBE

splat! a humongous wad
of chewed pink bubblegum
lands on the office floor
the young clerk whose foot it's near
looks down at it, then to me,

and splat! again,
she casually lobs it to
my cubicle floor
quickly saying it's fake,
a running office joke

as I'm a newbie
on the job she fills me in
I can toss it on
or take it to its "home base"
in the library room

well, this newbie's
not sure the real joke's revealed
should I believe her
and fling it away, risking
a co-worker's anger

or take it over
to the library and maybe
suffer ridicule?
yet leaving it for the clean-
up staff risks even more:

maybe I've just been
brought on board, included
in their group's joke,
and not made its butt in that
old, all too familiar way


[six tanka on a dream of 8-27-13. OK, all that talk in my comments to yesterday's post and here I am back to the dreamku form. What can I say? No rhyme, no reason (both literally and figuratively speaking). However, the form it's written in is not my concern here. It's the dream itself. I have mixed feelings. Although it questions my understanding in a good way, there's something so adolescent about it (blush). Yet someone said that entering old age is in many ways like a second adolescence. I hope I have time enough left to mature! Photo "Bashful" (6-17-13) by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.

BEFORE THE FALL (photo) & ON SAVING TODDLERS, TEENS & THE WORLD (dream based prose poem) by Roswila

ON SAVING TODDLERS, TEENS, & THE WORLD


Dream one:

my long time friend's energetic toddler son with shiny dark hair is missing his mother and I had boarded the subway train in rush hour with him and now he's nowhere to be found I elbow my way through car after car of tired commuters calling out for him "Peter! Peter!" but before I'm totally frantic or taken down by an angry passenger my friend tells me he's been found and that some stranger's child is now missing I nearly lose it how can anyone let go of a child's hand for even a second in the shadowy crowds milling about a subway


Dream two:

we fill the old sedan:
sibling teens (two girls and a boy) in the front seat turn to talk
with me as I sit somewhere in the middle and in the back seat
my dark haired male friend only a few years older than the
oldest teen with a young boy at his side the three teens
try to hide the fact that they're running away from
home but it's quite clear to me and I sense they
have good reason to do so however I respect
their self-protectiveness and approach the
subject only tangentially at first when the
middle girl sibling (fresh faced with shoulder
length brunette hair) sighs and says yes they are
running away and please just let them go the young
man in the back seat speaks out "I never knew it was
possible to love someone who wasn't related by blood but
I love this boy next to me as if he were my son or little brother"
tears nearly choking off his resonant voice


Dream three:

my friend's list of those she's
going to help fills a small
thick square folder in which
she's written down the names
of people and organizations
one after the other and from
the determined look on her
face as she passes the folder
to me she thoroughly expects
to do it all and don't I want to
join her (hint hint) I feel the
same urgent tug she clearly
does but know it would be
self-destructive to take it all
on yet something says just
read through the names (just
read them) five organizations
fairly jump off the pages at me
yes these are large established
groups and well-reputed I point
out the name of each to her
saying maybe I can support
the work of these five charities


[three part prose poem on three separate dreams of 8-26-13. I'm not sure of the significance in this dream of the name Peter, but do find it interesting that it means stone or rock. A comment on the playing around I've been doing recently with the shape of poems: I really don't know why. I just started doing it and am finding it fun. Whether it adds anything to the poems I really don't know. (The poem shapes are best viewed with browser "text size" [under "View"] set to "medium," i.e. in Internet Explorer.) I also don't know if the even more prosey writing, odd line breaks, and run-on phrasing I'm prone to these days is effective either. All of these departures from my long-standing dreamku parameters, feel almost urged upon me, as if something new is evolving. Only time will tell if this is true and also if it's worth anything. Other than as this playful break, a time in which to stretch my writing legs a bit. Photo "Before the Fall" (6-11-09) by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.

IN A ZEN GARDEN (photo) & SHOULD I WRITE (dream based prose poem) by Roswila

SHOULD I WRITE

should I write about your visit
my young Asian man it's been a long time
since you last stopped by in a dream
and this was an even briefer visit than usual

and as usual I'm left puzzled as to your meaning
apparently neither friend nor foe and showing no
distinct qualities beyond being from the Orient
(as your neck of the woods was called
in my parents' day --
could that
be a clue
as to who and what you are)

anyway to continue you've also never stirred
any romantic or sexual resonance in my dreams
and although last night you were engaged
to a lovely young Asian woman it seemed
to be happening at a distance not just from me
but from yourself as well proof
(if any can be had for a dream's
hot-off-the-press image)
lies in your total lack of affect
when she decided out of nowhere to break up
with you and you went on your muted way
as if nothing had happened at all

I kept looking back at her as she waited
on tables in that restaurant across the street behind
that plate glass window wishing her motives
and yours were as transparent as the glass
then I turned to you should
I make an effort to connect
I've never felt you welcomed
extensions and I have respected this
even though you clearly have not hesitated
to wander into my mind
unannounced and uninvited

ah well life's not fair even
in dreams maybe someday you'll drop the cloaking
stereotype of inscrutability and let me know why
you sometimes visit me my young Asian man


[prose poem on a dream of 8-25-12. I was tempted to call this a monologue rather than a poem, but the line and stanza breaks that suggested themselves to me are more in the vein of poetry. Photo "In A Zen Garden" by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.

PORTRAIT (photo) & AND SO... (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

AND SO...

... and so he dictates a lengthy letter
to me for his far away family they're
all in mourning over a recent death

he's supposed to be in a high level
meeting but none of his bosses appear
to mind this interruption though I suspect
he's milking the loss for all it's worth

my shorthand symbols traipse across several
pages like latter day cuneiform a vaguely
portrait-like shape repeating over and over

I'm only a secretary with no privilege to speak
my mind much less to take affirmative action
even though I've mourning of my own


[free verse poem on a dream of 8-2-13. I now realize that I've held off on posting this one as it makes me uncomfortable on a couple of levels. The writing just doesn't quite jell, but it's the content I'm most at odds with. Shadow stuff is rarely easy or fun to look at, but in this instance it was harder than usual. It may sound strange, but that mourning theme is actually the least of what this dream/ku addresses. Photo "Portrait" by Roswila]

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....".

* * * *

‘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.