CONTEMPLATING THE DIVE (photo) & STUFF AND NUNSENSE (dream tanka series capped by a two-liner) by Roswila

STUFF AND NUNSENSE

too old for all of this
and carting too much stuff
she struggles her way
through the subway rush hour crowd
her determination fading
ack! both the blasted
elevator and escalator
are out again
she'll have to take the steep stairs,
those long torturous steps down
she barely makes it
to the narrow train platform
before giving up
before piling her stuff around her
like a homeless person's nest
she's had it!
she'll go not one step further
in this endless farce
let others deal with it, as they will,
pride is overrated anyway
the crowd couldn't care less
and simply adjusts their flood
to pass around her
when one young dark haired woman
steps right up to her smiling
a social worker,
she informs the tired old woman
of a nun who wants
to help her, all she needs do
is get to the nun's church,
quickly adding
that she'll accompany her --
the old woman
doesn't take time to marvel
at this surprising development
but goes right to picking
up the piles of stuff again,
the social worker
voicing a gentle caveat
as they wend their way together:
"Just don't give up on the nun
I've nothing else of use to offer"


[tanka series capped by a two-liner -- with no spaces between each -- on a dream of 8-29-14. This is one of those jam packed dreams (more crowded than that subway was). I'll simply say that my giving up -- I heavily identify with the old woman, of course -- is actually a necessary part of the journey. Or, as in the context of the dream's imagery, the connection to the nun would not have been made. Also, the limits of social life -- the social worker -- are real. What's coming up is re-connecting in a deeper way to the spiritual part of my journey -- as symbolized by the nun and the church. (I'm also reminded that my actual Godmother was a nun.) I've actually seen hints of this spiritual re-connecting for months. A big influence on this dream is a book I'm about two thirds of the way through, "In the Ever After: Fairy Tales and the Second Half of Life" by Allan B. Chinen. I see a few of the psychological tasks outlined so far in the book for those past midlife and entering, or in, old age touched upon in this dream. Oh, and please forgive the pun in the title, I could not resist it. Photo "Contemplating the Dive" (8-21-14 009v2) 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....".

* * * *

‘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.