WHICH WAY HOME (photomorph) & THE SIDEBOARD (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

THE SIDEBOARD

yes, she really wants
to take this huge old sideboard
to her new rooms,
the last furniture left to move
from this basement apartment

as she stares at its
dark wood and white marble counter
she ponders paths,
knowing she can do this,
she's slid its bulk around before

as long as the way's
relatively smooth and level
edging it forward
will present no problem, she just
needs to breathe deep and pace herself

but which path is best
she's aware of two, one direct,
one gently curving
but she's not walked either of them
nudging her heavy sideboard

she'll just have to start down a path at random,
there's little time left to complete this move

besides it's much better to be doing, thinking
has no legs to stand on, much less to walk


[tanka series capped by a pair of two-liners on a dream of 11-18-14. Until those last two lines jumped out of my pencil early this morning, I really thought maybe I should leave whatever that sideboard represents behind. However, I then realized that the sideboard is a symbol of my own body. (It's an apt image as sideboards are connected to food.) And I definitely hear the urgency about doing more walking. I've been thinking way too much about how best to incorporate more walks into my days, where to walk, etc. Seems I just need to do it, already. All this if I want to make it to the new home of a fully slimmed down and healthier body. (Had I mentioned? I've now lost 78 lbs.) I should mention I just got back from a good walk, taken in two stages. Photomorph "Which Way Home" (10-7-14 009v9) 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.