IN STAGES (photo art) & ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE... (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE ...*

it's called a storybook in the vernacular
though to my eyes all we're pasting up
is a scrapbook of addresses, each on
a separate page, in numeric order,
then adding a photo of a person
to the left of each, highlighting
a life lived largely in that place

I note a big gap in the numbered pages,
then realize that's where the bridge
across Sheepshead Bay** extends,
from 40th Street, on the northwest,
to 41st on its other southeast end

the remnants of my calligraphy skill
come in handy (you should pardon
the pun) when I letter a scintillating
name above each address
and picture pair, both for a touch
of art and for ease
of future reference

our director then gently shuts the large
flat book and brushing it almost
affectionately with the palm of one hand
murmurs "It's ready for use now,
for without the stories there'd be no show"


[free verse poem (or maybe this is one of those that is more like a narrative) on a dream of 4-15-14. *From the Shakespeare soliloquy that starts: "All the world's a stage, // And all the men and women merely players. // They have their exits and their entrances, ..." I don't recall exactly where I heard those opening words of the title, but they were in the dream. **Sheepshead Bay: an actual bay between Brooklyn, New York City and Coney Island NYC, with a great deal of teenage memories of mine attached to it. Those street numbers, though, I associate to when I was 40 years old (numbers in dreams for me often reference ages). One of the most painful and ultimately most transformative years of my life. That bridge also represents other transition times, but it's too much to go into here. BTW, there's a clear association overall of the "storybook" to this blog and to the binders I keep of printouts of its posts. As well as to the binders of pix I'll be showing in an exhibit/sale I'm having on April 27th. However, it's in other details of this dream that its deeper "meanings" are touched upon. Photo art "In Stages" (4-12-14 002v9) 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.

* * * *

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.