A STICKY WICKET (photo art) & PLEASE RELEASE ME (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

PLEASE RELEASE ME

"Please release me, let me go ..."
reverberates in her mind
as she visits the doctor
to set up care for her sick friend

the doctor reasonably enough
points out he can't help much
in the absence of the patient,
but listens to her reasoning,
to her explanations of caring
and of the past experiences urging
her detailed anticipation of what
she needs to do for her friend

then to her surprise, even as
"Please release me..." rises again
like a soundtrack, the doctor gently
questions why she has to do anything,
sharing how he'd ultimately freed
himself from murky entanglements
with angry confrontation

it's as if a multitude of flash bulbs
goes off and she thinks" Yes! I don't
have to do this!" and better yet she sees
she doesn't even have to get angry
to make the break

she thanks the doctor for his time
and as she walks away, starts phrasing
in her mind how best to respectfully set
the boundaries she needs
with her sick friend,

releasing herself yet one more time
from the ancient snare of over-responsibility


[free verse poem on a dream of 1-9-14. The title and snatch of lyrics I heard in the dream are from the old Jim Reeves song "Please Release Me." There's a lot more to this dream than just the issue of over-responsibility (in 12 step program terms, care-taking and co-dependency). It would require a massively long dream poem to get all the implications in. And I think the portion of the dream's import that I attempt to share here is sufficient to this morning's writing session. Photo art "A Sticky Wicket" (12-24-13 010v8) by Roswila]

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DREAMKU (& PHOTOS):

But first, a request: please let me know of any typos or other sorts of blunders in my posts. As my eyes age I'm finding more mistakes are creeping into what I put up here no matter how many times I proof it all. Thanks for any help!

The dream-based poems posted on this blog -- dreamku, tanka, two-liners, monoku, free verse, dream narratives -- 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 or narrative 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. I now tend to "show" (the dream story) 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 also pretty much applies to my free verse dream poems as well. As to what I have begun calling dream narratives, they are a different animal, probably most akin to prose poems.

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.