FALL OUT (photo art) & ANOTHER DAY (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

ANOTHER DAY

the cult was actually willing to bomb us!
I'm stunned they'd go to such lengths
to keep us from disseminating
the truth about them

better I live to fight another day,
I say to myself with a brief wince
of guilt, as I flee the premises
leaving the tapes of evidence peeking
out of the shambles as I run

I pass by a church where one of the top
leaders of the bombers paces outside,
concerned as to where I am, mumbling:
did she get away with the tapes?

on seeing me he makes a nice public
recovery, claiming great relief I'm not going
to martyr myself, but he doesn't fool anyone

much less the former member of the bomb cult
whose joined us, her concern for my welfare
apparently quite real as the cult top cat rounds
on her, attacking her grammar as abysmal

she looks briefly taken aback and then amused,
retorting he's assuming she could care at all
while noting his criticism is totally
the pot calling the kettle black

I try to get her attention, after all she and I
need to be moving on, we are still deep
within the radiating blast range of the bomb

if they must, the cult top cat and she
can continue to lob insults at each other
in some safer place where debris
and chemical fumes don't rain down,
in fact, some place far from me altogether

I turn my back on them both, head held high,
at peace now that I did not even attempt
to retrieve the almost buried tapes
of evidence, and stride surely toward
the sunrise on the distant horizon


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-28-13. This was the first dream of the night. The last dream I've already posted in poem form here on September 29th, which was set aboard the Titanic. Two rather big disasters, which has certainly given me pause. It could be they are hyperbolic metaphors for my sudden big increase in joint pain (arthritic). But as I mentioned in September 29th's comment they may also reflect anxiety about what's been going on in our society and in the larger world. Photo art "Fall Out" (10-3-09) 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.

BURNING QUESTION (photo art) & WHY IS A CROOKED LETTER (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

WHY IS A CROOKED LETTER

why, oh why, oh why-o
do I keep dreaming about
my years of gainful employment?
I'm well rid of those low
paying, high-demanding,
at best socially oblivious
and at worst cruel situations

even in this dream I know
there's no way I'm going to accept
that position even though as soon
as they read me the job description
it goes right out of my mind
(which is just where I'm sure a job
such as that would have driven me,
out of what little mind I had left)

so why am I so delighted to tell
my friend I've now been offered
a less demanding but still low-
paying job with a former boss,
one of the most (to be kind, even
though she wasn't) oblivious
I'd ever had?

what is there in the human spirit
that wants, maybe even needs,
to feel useful to others?
even for little pay or worse
at a high cost to one's own health
and well-being?

or am I only paying off old debts,
looking to make up for my own
short-comings and failures, still
trying to work out (pun intended)
why I was complicit


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-4-13. Photo "Burning Question" (9-7-11) 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.

RETURN TO THE SEA (photo art) & MODERN ETUDE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

MODERN ETUDE

she's been told she should show
her feelings as she plays the piano
it's not been her wont before,
her face and posture like the unstirred
surface of a lake as she would let
the music speak for itself

but her desire to please rises above
this natural inclination as she debuts
a lively modern etude, her face and limbs
as animated as a three-ring circus,
pride at this new performance skill
radiating with each key stroke

I look down irritated, I much prefer
to have my own reactions
to a piece, and in my own time,
though sympathy stirs for this young
pianist who's just trying to learn
about the craft of performance

but what's wrong with the piano?
is one key badly out of tune?
one note sounds more like a player
piano, sharp and hollow,
and trills far more than fits
the overall timbre of the music

this may be a modern etude
but it's almost painful to listen to,
yet I hang in and stare at a swirling
knothole in a floor board,
releasing the habit of critique
to tumble awkwardly along
through uncharted musical waters


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-3-13. Photo "Return to the Sea" (9-12-13) 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.

PIROUETTE (photo art) & GET THE PICTURE? (dream tanka with two-liner) by Roswila

GET THE PICTURE?

the dream keeps flashing unusual
renderings of "The World" Tarot card,
each version unique and each
spiraling tightly at its center
all focus pulled on each flash
to the spinning middle, too late
flicking to explore the defining edges


[a tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 10-2-13. Photo art "Pirouette" (2-19-10) by Roswila (another version of the photo art posted here yesterday). Below is what might be considered a traditional version of The World card in the Tarot, from the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:

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.

BADGE OF EVOLUTION (photo art) & CUTTING QUESTIONS (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

CUTTING QUESTIONS

did I really slay an entire troop of Boy Scouts?
that slew of do-gooders with their endless badges
and insistence on conforming to the "norm"?

who's good when values vary endlessly?
how's a badge able to assure skill?
what's normal when everything's evolving?

I'll take responsibility only
for having asked these cutting questions

how they received them was up to them


[free verse dream poem on a dream of 9-10-13. This piece is three weeks old. One of those I wasn't all that sure of so kept putting it aside in favor of newer ones. I'm still not all that sure, but I didn't have anything from last night. The only other unposted dream poem I have goes on forever and I'm just not up to editing it right now. So it's finally the Boy Scout's turn to be posted. Yeah, I could skip a day, however, I'm a creature of habit if nothing else. Photo "Badge of Evolution" (2-19-10) 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.

THE CHESHIRE CAT (photo art) & THAT QUIRKY CAT (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THAT QUIRKY CAT

so, I tell him, there she sat
at the center of my apartment
that large blue-grey cat

(you know, where I lived
for all those long years
before I moved here?)

well, there she sat, front paws
placed ever so precisely,
head high, ears on alert,
golden eyes staring me down

yeah, like a quirky Sphinx
she owned that moment
demanding that I guess
not only the right answer,
but the riddle


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-30-13. I've been dreaming of that actual apartment I lived in for 23 years quite a bit recently. (Not all those dreams appear here in poem form.) And I do really feel challenged to figure out what the issue/riddle is at the center of those years. Seems to me there's some "trick" or deceptive quality to it all given the riddle image I chose intuitively when drafting this poem. And it's also probably an old issue, greatly pre-dating (ancient, like the Sphinx) my years in that apartment. I also associate that cat's posture to statues of the Egyptian Goddess Bast that I've seen. (A quick google netted the interesting fact that Bast was originally a lion goddess, a protectress. And that Her later cat form probably reflected a level of reverence in Egypt comparable to that of the cow in India. Hm.) Photo "The Cheshire Cat" (9-23-13) 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.