BLIZZARD (photo art) & YIN/YANG (dream narrative) by Roswila

YIN/YANG

lethargic polar bears crowd a small ice floe
taking no particular notice of the huge chunks
of chopped beef we've put out for them

their entire environment is melting away
as surely as the glaciers and we're here
hoping to save these starving bears

but they ignore the meat, noting it no more
than a pile of icy snow when they lumber
around an obstructive chunk of it

in a burst of inspiration I make the trip
back onto the floe to quietly slice
the cold chunks of chopped beef
into smaller pieces with my cutlass

when done I rest at the far edge
of the floe breathing heavily, hoping now
they'll start eating and stop starving

even as I see they're still uninterested
in the meat, I realize a female bear
has come up close behind me
and almost before the hairs can rise
on the back of my neck she tries
to bite down softly on it

ah HAH! I think, that's it! the meat's cold,
it must be warm to get their attention,
but I'd better get this languid female
off my back before addressing
this change in our rescue approach

I yell out for help to my environmentalist
cohorts in the distance where they mill
about on solid if snowy ground

as I wrestle gently with the polar bear
and wait for my associates to arrive
I wonder how best we might serve
warm meat to these endangered bears

a pale gold full moon has risen,
along with the space station wheel
strung with lights in the shape
of a five-pointed star and turning slowly
as it partially overlaps the round moon

my vulnerable neck forgotten for the nonce
I yearn for a camera, such a glorious
fleeting pair! natural and man made
together lighting up the dark,
a scintillating yin/yang


[narrative on a dream of 3-1-14. There are (as usual) a couple of ways I can relate to this dream and I choose the more positive slant. That there is hope we humans can get things into balance on our planet again. An image of hope is that "star," as in The Star card of the Tarot which is most often read to symbolize hope. Along with my ultimate association to the pair as a yin/yang image. This issue of balance, of course, applies in my personal life as well. My stepmother used to say I was like a polar bear. (I.e. apparently chilly, but really a cuddly bear.) Given this, I wonder what part of me is starving, adrift, and out in the cold, and why. Something I'll be mulling over today as I go about my chores. Photo art "Blizzard" (4-29-11 10811ev2) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.