Check out the new UNITED HAIKU & TANKA SOCIETY

There's a new international haiku and tanka group online: The United Haiku and Tanka Society (UHTS). I'm ticked pink to have been invited to be a charter member. They're just getting off the ground, and looking for submissions (see "cattails" or "Haiku" on the left of the homepage). I'm familiar with some of the previous publishing offered by a couple of their Officers and know this new effort will develop beautifully.

I was particularly delighted to read the following on the UHTS homepage: "Nowadays, boundaries are being pushed to accept mainstream short poetry under the guise of Japanese short forms. Believing this desensitizes age-old aesthetics, we seek to continue the simple values of the natural world, and time honored guidelines (while at the same time focusing on the evolving 21st Century impacts). UHTS strives for that fine-line balance between the historic and the contemporary."

Anyone not familiar with these small forms, might find it surprising to know that each writer brings a different style and spirit to theirs. So I encourage you to read work by a variety of writers. One good place is an issue of KernelsOnline.

With the above UHTS quote in mind, I'll close with some of my own haiku, senryu, and monoku. For those of you accustomed to my dream-based writing, please know that the below are not from dreams. Except for the last one -- "a fleeing doe..." -- which was composed during a dream as I saw the scene. (The above photo, titled "Voices in the Wind," is also by me.)

one hundred steps down
the bluff to lie on the beach
one hundred steps up

* * * *

indian summer
the plumber and I laugh
about growing old

* * * *

piled russet leaves the child's leap

* * * *

seed pod harvest
dried glory vines
cling to the gate

* * * *

the crooked stack
of boxed clementines
a running child

* * * *

the rips let in more light lace curtains

* * * *

the dragon sniffs
at a sleeping fairy's foot
rummage sale

* * * *

what would you wish,
tiny sparrow in a big
pot of clover

* * * *

strolling a lone crow on the manicured lawn

* * * *

do you see me?
tiny brown lizard peeking
from behind the rock

* * * *

look, up in the sky
a lone after dinner mint
sweet sickle moon

* * * *

a fleeing doe
in the fleeting light
the world just so

* * * * * * * * * * * *

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.

THALASSIC (photo) & THE UNIVERSE OF WATER (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE UNIVERSE OF WATER

I can't even swim alone
in the pool enjoying

the long missed limbering up,
the buoyancy surrounding
spirit and painful joints,
the bending over in deep water
to dive into an alternate world
of silent scintillating aqua,

without commentator
after commentator
calling from the tiled edge
of the pool, lobbing opinions
at me as if I were a target

like that erstwhile friend still
damning with faint praise
about the shape of my stroke
while demonstrating how to
stuff one's hair in a bathing cap
as if I can't really do that
properly either

and he, that handsome old haunt,
egging me to dive deeper yet
without a clue himself about
how to swim much less dive,
his odd fear of me as glaring
as the sunlight glancing
off the pool's surface

or that dark rogue male wanting
to control my every stroke,
my every breath, while lecturing
on additional forms of exercise
that I simply must try
if I ever want good health

all these distracting folk urging
me on in their own ways and for
their own reasons,
some truly well-meaning,
others hiding weighted sinkers
in their words, and yet
others anxious to take credit
for what I've done on my own

I've sorely missed and needed
to explore this accommodating
universe of water, so
does it really matter
what these misguided folk
lob at me from the edge,
like a clamorous off-key chorus

what matters is the swimming
and there's always the next deep dive

[free verse poem on a dream of 9-9-13. Photo "Thalassic" by Roswila] P.S. As always, my heart goes back to New York City on this date, recalling the fall of the Twin Towers. I was living in NYC at the time (and had been for over 50 years) so I remember that day and its aftermath all too well. My deep and abiding hope is that those most effected by the attack have found healing in the years since that dark day.

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.

THE TETHERS LOOSEN (photo) & THE RISING TIDE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE RISING TIDE

it's clear that I must return this spirit,
this barely out of toddlerhood child,
to the other side of living

while no easy chore I take it on
without hesitation, I will find and open
a pathway back to the land
of non-existence, then start the child
firmly down that road that's said
to vanish even as it's trod upon

what can I say, it all seems as right
and necessary to do as breathing
this spirit child has served its purpose
and emptied purpose left to wander
surely caused this haunting

just like the 28 warrior guards I've lined up
military style to one side, who've also
been stuck here in the land of the living
long past their usefulness

I wonder if I should open a path
to the left of the child's by which "The 28"
can await their return to the void,
while I finish nudging the child
along her reluctant way

in a flash the Over-Mind inserts the thought
"Focus on the child, the immediate
task at hand, and let what will follow,
follow as it will"

sigh, I'd rather plan ahead and work
endlessly on procedure and form
from every conceivable angle
but now see that most letting go happens
one messy unpredictable step at a time,
and all my fussing has only bound
these unfortunate ghosts to life

(but how will I survive the rising tide
of loneliness already lapping at my feet?)


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-4-13. This is a jam packed dream. I could go on for paragraphs on the theme of letting go alone. There are references to personal history and my attachment thereto, both the incidents and my interpretations of them. All not surprising given the intense daily journal/dialogue I've been doing, somewhat in the vein of Carl Jung's "active imagination." Oh, and why 28? My immediate thought was the number of days in the moon's and a woman's menstrual cycle. Photo "The Tethers Loosen" (9-7-13) 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.

BLUE MORNING (photo) & [untitled] (non-dream senryu) by Roswila

body and mind ache
birds call in the distance
through humming traffic


[non-dream senryu written 9-9-13. When I first drafted this early in the morning I was OK with it. But since posting it here and letting it "sit a spell," I think it's a bit busy. The haiku and senryu I like best (mine or anyone else's) are usually less complicated, have fewer components. Ah well, it was a many layered moment I was trying to get down on the page. I'll leave it at that. As to the term "senryu," they are very much like haiku, sometimes indistinguishable from them. I'm not even sure which category this one falls in to. Senryu, for instance don't use season words, but can have them. Yet many modern haiku don't use season words either. And generally speaking senryu are about the human condition and often funny. But haiku can be also -- depending, of course, on which school of thinking about haiku one adheres to. (One traditional school adheres to simply "painting a picture of nature," for example.) There are probably other distinctions between the two forms, but I'm not all that familiar with senryu. Photo "Blue Morning" 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.