THE HERMIT (photo) & COMPARE & CONTRAST ... (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

COMPARE & CONTRAST ...

she finds it thoroughly engaging,
this responding to clues with her
own colorful abstracts which she
then collages to every surface
of two small rectangular trays

her designs on the first tray flow
with no white space to invite
interpretation, their low-intensity
colors and languid shapes drape
across the gaze and quiet the mind

the second tray radiates complexity,
white spaces looping through its
tumbling colors, brushing on
questions and hinting at import
while vaguely stirring the mind

but soon enough she finds herself
wrangling with words again,
long lists of questions, phrases,
comments: like endless cites
and footnotes they fill page
after page, margin to margin, neatly
word-processed and spell checked,
a scattered few italicized
and high-lighted in red

meaning and portent weigh
these words down, the pages
curling up as if in defeat beneath
the freight they carry,

unlike the colorful collages
on the two trays that rest lightly
in their undemanding shapes,
open to the warming morning sun


[free verse poem on a dream of 1-1-14. Too much to explain here, but this dream was deeply informed by a new book I just started reading. It's about a particular vein in the history of The Tarot, so far addressing what symbols are and what they do. Right up my alley, with my Jungian bent. Photo "The Hermit," a Found Tarot card (2-12-10 19681v2) 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.