ROSE ON THE ROCKS (photomorph) & WILL I GROW ROOTED (dream tanka series w/two-liner) by Roswila

WILL I GROW ROOTED

it seems there's nothing
I can do -- I'm good and truly
stuck on this cliff side
at least I'm comfortable
if nigh on to vertical

and it's a nice view
down the cliff to the sea's edge,
pale green succulents
and the mica in rocks
scintillating in the sunlight

I don't even know
how I managed to clamber far
enough down to get stuck,
much less why I tried, having failed
steep climbs so often before

"Will I grow rooted
here among the shimmering rocks"
I joke to myself,
when a woman even older
than I walks up from the ocean

her white hair shines like a crown in the afternoon sun
I feel blessed as she passes, this Queen of Earth and Sea


[tanka series capped by a two-liner on a dream of 9-15-14. I associate the "even older" old woman to the Self (note that's not with a little "s," i.e. not the ego self but the totality of Self in the Jungian sense addressed in the link). I've had an old woman show up in dreams over the past couple of decades. Always in some positive/wise capacity, sometimes even humorous. This was a particularly timely appearance and within a particularly apt scene. Though I'm not sure yet what Her message (or messages) may be this time, if any. I can only say I am grateful for the feeling of having been blessed. It was also a vaguely lucid dream as I recalled other actual dreams in which I could not make a climb. This reference to other dreams has happened in my dreams before. It's almost as if my dream world's memory is becoming my stock of old dreams. How's that for an oroboros (a snake with its tail in its mouth). :-) Photomorph "Rose on the Rocks" (9-13-14 001v18) 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.