WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE (photo art) & BARE BONES (dream tanka series) by Roswila

BARE BONES

ah, flower colors
once rich gold and hot orange
now paled to pastels,
but it's their languid shapes most
calling to my camera

I frame and focus
a shot of these intriguing
tissue paper thin
petals, as they lie stretched out
on the ground as if on a chaise

a friend passes by
but I choose to make believe
I haven't seen her
these shapes deeply compel me
and I'd missed this shot once before

I don't even care
why these translucent curves call
in whispery waves,
what message they dryly drape:
their bare bones beauty fills me


[four tanka on a dream of 5-17-14. I said in comments to a recent non-dream poem of mine here that I think sometimes I'm even more interested in the image/thing itself than in its contents (meaning or interpretation). This dream seems to be pointed that way as well. Then there's the quote I read last night on my Zen calendar: "...Zen's the unsymbolization of the world and all the things in it." (Frederick Franck, artist) I seriously doubt I'll ever forego the search for meaning altogether. But it certainly is a relief and pleasure to have an image/thing/experience be sufficient unto itself once in a while. Photo art "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" (4-24-10 10006 ev3) 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. (This all applies to any of the non-dream poems posted here, too.)

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....".

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‘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.