Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm

SEE ALSO: TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT (photos, realistic to abstract)

Saturday, November 09, 2013

DARK GARDEN (photo art) & THE FAMILY UP THE STREET


THE FAMILY UP THE STREET

it's all so sad, they say, the children of that family
get shuttled back and forth -- a night with their
philandering father, the next morning dropped off early
at their mother's house-of-who-knows-what-repute
up the street -- and do you think the father
(that dark-haired oily would-be charmer)
actually expects others to believe there's good will
behind those huge bouquets he gives his eldest
(a son ,who holds each away from himself,
top down as if it might bite?) worse yet,
does the father truly believe his own charade?
and where's the mother in all this? it's said
no one's seen her in many years (rumor has it
she's very crazy, locked away in their house
up the street, dribbling only nonsense
from her heavily lipsticked mouth) --
and what of that oldest child, a teenager
but looking already like a grown man
as he herds the wavering line of his many siblings
up the driveway to their house (that's somehow always
hidden in a fog as if too ashamed to be seen) --
and what of the rage that rolls in almost visible waves
off his shoulders bent by the burdens of shepherding
and shuttling between Charybdis and Scylla,
while hefting each gargantuan bouquet from his father
(if only the inevitable trail of bruised and fallen petals
could lead him and his siblings out of this endless
loop of a life) -- it's all so sad, they say


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-7-13. Yeah, I think S.A.D. (Seasonal Affect Disorder) has finally hit me. And on top of that there's a full moon due on the 17th (me and my waxing gibbous moon hyper-sensitivity). This is not to deny the issues this dream poem points to, not at all. Just to acknowledge that my responses to them are less constructive and more emotionally dark than they might be otherwise given the time of year and month. Charybdis & Scylla. Photo art "Dark Garden" (11-9-13) 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.

Friday, November 08, 2013

MAKING MAGIC (photo art) & OUR GENIE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


OUR GENIE

our copper skinned burly genie rests
(deceptively inactive, I think to myself)
by the kidney-shaped pool of our home
typical of southwestern well-to-do folk
(I just know he's manipulating all our lives
though no one's making any wishes,
at least not consciously, that is)

genie on board or not, our family's now going
through a rough patch, our latest stepmother
bringing a deep and troubled sadness with her,
a poverty of spirit whether from starvation
or abuse we do not yet comprehend

while our genie appears to snooze on,
our new stepmom approaches me with a smile
so wobbly I fear it will slip right away
but it seems our welcome and patience
have eased her pain enough that she's now
able to ask for and accept a hug from me

its brief harbor surprises her and she steps back,
pausing, then this small hesitant woman
opens her arms for another embrace,
warmer and more lingering

I open my eyes as we disengage, just in time
to catch our genie with the flicker
of a smile on his impish face


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-5-13. Talk about wishful thinking! However, I hasten to add that when I let go of trying to control it all, things sometimes happen that do feel rather magical. Not what I may have wished for or expected (or even feared) but, well, magical in some way. Upshot? I'm reminded of that expression: "Life is what happens while you're making other plans." Photo art "Making Magic" (10-30-09) 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.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

ONE TOO MANY TWISTS (photo art) & ENCEINTE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


ENCEINTE

I'm pregnant
maybe a week or two along
it's pleasant to muse
over this realization
as I lightly rub
just below my waist
my wool gathering interrupted
when I hear from a long estranged
friend who's also enceinte this late in life
she seems to feel this odd coincidence
can effect repair despite the time
and distance between us but it just
pinches awkwardly at our past
another twist in our hopeless
friendship knot


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-4-13. "Enceinte" = pregnant (French). Photo art "One Too Many Twists" (8-2-10) 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.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

THE ALCHEMIST (photo art) & TEMPERANCE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


TEMPERANCE

the bright white ladder against
the white of the beach house
clapboard wall nearly blinds me
in the noon sun as I make
this taboo climb to my friend's
bedroom window, while the light
on my shoulders -- bent to hauling
and balancing up the ladder -- weighs
on me both warm and wet
I pause and glance back:
the Tarot scene of "Temperance"
lives in the air above the unusually
still sea, as if this sky-wide angel
forever consumed by the task
of pouring water into water
and back up again, without
a break or drip, eclipses
any other worldly turbulence --
I wryly mumble "As if I needed
to be reminded this is a difficult
path I'm on," and turn back
to the climb thinking any scene
with an angel in it can't be all
that bad, but then again, enough
of symbols and analysis ... one hand,
one foot ... grip, release, grip ...
the window ledge nears ...
the challenge in my hands
at this moment ... at any moment
more than enough

[free verse poem on a dream of 11-4-13. Another Tarot dream. Seems I'm starting to make up for the years in which they were quite a rarity. I remember reading somewhere that Temperance's path on the Tree of Life (from Netzach to Tiphareth) is one of the hardest. (Tiphareth, by the way, is sometimes called the "heart" of the Tree.) Here's Temperance in the Rider/Waite/Smith deck:
The photo at the top of this post is one of mine. It's titled "The Alchemist" (10-5-09) and has been posted as one of my Found Tarot cards as a version of Temperance. (An alchemical process is sometimes seen as represented in Temperance.) And C.G. Jung wrote about the symbolism of alchemy as being intimately related to the psychoanalytical process. One last link, to another photo of mine in which I see Temperance, even more so than in "The Alchemist" above.]

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.

Monday, November 04, 2013

A CLEAN SLATE (photo) & IN THE FLOWERING BOWER (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


IN THE FLOWERING BOWER

and so, the thinking dream continues,
there's no fixed self at all, no "I"
of predictable edges and totally known
depths and heights and duration

it's like The Magician in The Tarot,
one's self being a constantly emptying
and filling table in the midst
of the ongoing seasons
of a flowering bower

and opening to this changeability,
embracing whatever it puts
on the table, is an act of magic,
of simultaneous creation and destruction
and creation again, and ever again

a mysterious alchemy
afroth with the glitter
and shadows we once
would have reified


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-3-13. Here's the link to my Found Tarot post describing why I see the above photo as a version of The Magician card. (You may note that I have managed since posting it back then to my Tarot blog, to bring out that rainbow effect a bit.) And here's a more traditional version of The Magician (from the Rider/Waite/Smith deck):


As to the dream: It was not an over-voice talking (as I do occasionally experience in dreams) or some other character/object speaking, it was "I" thinking this all out in my sleep. The dream had no sense of location or visual content, other than an endless darkness, and "I" had no sense of body or emotion. An emotional thought of "Oh, wow, a Tarot dream!" only entered as I fully woke and recalled the dream. I have had a totally thinking dream or two in the past. But usually any sense "I" am thinking in a dream is within the context of a larger more detailed dream (such as when I have written a haiku in a dream coming out of the dream's images). A last point, in the dream it was on "seeing" the word "I" that I thought of The Magician card, whose number is a roman numeral one, or I. Photo "A Clean Slate" (8-2-10), a/k/a The Magician, 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.

Sunday, November 03, 2013

THE INQUIRY (photo art) & TRUE COLORS (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


TRUE COLORS*

like a well-plotted and directed
James Bond movie the retrieval
of the precious stolen object
plays out exactly as planned

the actress hired at the last minute
by the leader of the raid as his partner
in the high-class re-robbery
makes the grade and then some,
her performance spot on
as a European head of state

when all fakery's dropped
and the reclaiming raiders finally
breach the high wire fence
of the thieves' compound,
victory lights the midnight sky
as surely as lightning
through the sudden downpour

the actress stands in her sodden
trench coat laughing, "I knew we'd
succeeded," she declares
"when for once my dress
was not in total tatters
at the end"

fade to black as a female
voice sings softly in an endless loop
"I see your true colors shining through,
I see your true colors
and that's why I love you..."*


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-2-13. *I've always been very fond of the Cyndi Lauper version of the song
"True Colors"
and was reminded of it last night when it was sung very movingly on the T.V. show "Glee." To the dream itself: I think it's addressing a recent sadness I've been feeling. As if some part of me has stolen away with a certain very valuable focus or determination, and left an embarrassed self-pity in its place, like some fairy changeling. This dream fulfills the wish that what's been "stolen" be retrieved. Or maybe even makes the point that it's not gone, just eclipsed in some way. Photo art "The Inquiry" (8-20-09) 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.