TWISTED THINKING (photomorph) & THE BLACK & WHITE CAT (dream tanka series w/2-liner) by Roswila

THE BLACK & WHITE CAT

the black and white cat
given into her care and arms
just will not hold still,
will not stop struggling
intensely for its freedom

it's not yet bitten
or scratched her as it wriggles
but there's no saying
it won't, if only because
of its escalating panic

then she just lets go
she's had it with the struggle,
maybe the cat will
recall that the last time she'd cared
for it had worked out quite well

but it leaps from her
no longer containing arms
like a gunshot
she hopes it will know to come
back to her if it meets with trouble

and if it doesn't, that she'll be able
to forgive herself for letting go


[tanka series capped by a two-liner on a dream of 12-11-14. This is one with two very different levels. One about knowing when to let go and also accepting that one cannot/should not try to control everything. The other -- and more difficult one to deal with -- is about my struggle with black and white thinking. Yeah, the cat is out of this old bag on that one. Old rigid thinking patterns are running wild right now. But at least part of me is able to observe and not totally identify with them. Or maybe I'll just blame it all on Seasonal Affect Disorder (and that's only partly a joke). Photomorph "Twisted Thinking" (11-26-14 001v7a) 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.