THE HATCHING (photo art) & THE STYGIAN CAVE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE STYGIAN CAVE

we'll never get out of this stygian cave!
how will he and I ever get past
these huge hatching worm-like
horrors crowding the entrance?

I've done something I don't even
want to think about that's cleared
the cave opening of the adult threats,
but we'll still have to force
our ways between the piles
of obnoxious pulsing eggs

"Ah, my friend," I say, "the way out
is lightless and so mobbed with hatching
mounds we'll just have to feel
our way along, and walk very carefully
letting our feet be our eyes"


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-7-14. This one's chock full, and with more than eggs! For starters, I think of the expression "walking on eggs" and, in a good way, of my friend who gets eggs for me regularly. Then I think of the necessity of "being grounded," having one's feet firmly on the ground, being energetically connected to the earth. But I think the deepest resonance for me here is to the astrology sign Pisces ruling the feet. (Each sign rules a different part of the body.) Pisces rules the subconscious and dreams, and is said to be strongly intuitive and highly receptive to the collective unconscious. The upshot of all this (and everything else I see that I'm not listing here)? I've managed to "clear my path" of some threats but a lot is still in the dark. And new issues are always hatching. Overall I hear from this dream that, more than ever, I may need to follow my intuition as things won't be clear or easy. And I like that I have a friend with me in this dream. Oh, and why does a sun sign Capricorn relate so to Pisces, which sign does not appear anywhere in her chart? Because Neptune -- the ruling planet for Pisces -- heavily influences my chart, sitting right on my rising. In fact, I was told by an astrologer that I'm more like a watery Piscean in many ways than an earthy Capricorn with an earthy Taurus Moon. By the way, none of these astrology references should be taken to mean that I "believe" in the system. Astrology acts for me the way Tarot images do, amplifying and clarifying my intuitions and leanings so that I may more readily and appropriately respond to them. Photo art "The Hatching" (12-24-13 017v3) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,






[aka: Patricia Kelly]


**** 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.

REFLECTION (photo art) & IN A HAZE (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

IN A HAZE

there's always sunlight
somewhere, even if only
in reflection
the deepest end of the pool
aflicker with refraction


[non-dream tanka written in February 2014. Photo art "Reflection" (9-15-13 008v7) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.

EMBEDDED (photo art) & IN A WINTER ROSE GARDEN (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

IN A WINTER ROSE GARDEN

if not for a bright beauty
slipping at odd times down
the pale daylight few visitors
would ever come to this armored
long-limbed languor, this daunting
absence whose silence speaks louder
than all its gnarled and nodding shadows


[non-dream free verse poem written in January of 2012. Yes, I note that use of the word "armored" in the fourth line. It was in the final image of the dream poem I posted here yesterday and may very well be what triggered memory of this older (non-dream) poem. Photo art "Embedded" (1-19-11 10437v2) by Roswila -- this is one of those photos that looks much better larger, so click on it for a bigger version. I would have posted it here in a larger format but when I tried that it overwhelmed the poem, and I see picture and poem always as a pair.]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,






[aka: Patricia Kelly]

**** 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.

TOWER OF SHADOWS (photo) & IN A GLASS EYE DARKLY (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

IN A GLASS EYE DARKLY
(a new Celtic myth)

I

it must be a T.V. ad for perfume
for it has that obsessive quality to it,
but whatever it is, it's gorgeous, this underwater
swimming of lovers, she surprising him
with a swift breastroking between the legs
of his water challenged warrior stance,
her dark blond hair trailing along her back
like Celtic knot work almost to her knees

their swords and leathern armor left on land
she leads him on, his rising and falling
like a golden haired wolfhound
in slow motion through the pale green water
filigreed with light

the capacity of their lungs and limbs
waxes astounding as they dive deeper yet,
even as dark branches of seaweed
and ancient coral necessitate they make
many a swirling detour, churning the depths

II

he wakes spewing water, beached by the ocean,
and swipes his sandy hair away from his eyes

staring about in puzzlement and then fear
he thinks, where is she, where is my Fledora?

as he stumbles to his feet movement catches
his smoky gaze, only yards away three
dark haired young women slowly
emerge from the sand but none is Fledora,
his shining Fledora

the trio stands pointing silently to the high
tower of a massive sand castle, even as he rushes
toward it, drawn inexorably in dread

a voice rises above the sandy crenellations, hers!
he listens unbelieving, rivulets of acid tears
rushing down his bearded cheeks

"I have lain here long unliving
from when we first were tossed
out of the depths through which we danced

sand crabs and sea birds drawn to my fading
buried me, little by little, along with the incessant
sculpting of the tides, as the castle grew
imprisoning my spirit in its tower
where I was doomed to stand witness
to life's unending cycles

and I bore visions of the world at its wars,
all the while burning hotter than any sun
until I melted down with the sand
into this clear glass eye
topping the tower:

look into its depths all ye who dare,
and recognize your armored selves
for what they are, then shall you
begin your mourning"


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-3-14. Photo "Tower of Shadows" (8-16-09 5655e) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.

TEAL TICKLERS (photo art) & UNDER THE EL TRAIN STATION (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

UNDER THE EL TRAIN STATION

the dark leafed bush is known to bear
three different types of blossoms --
I'm not surprised to learn only one
springs naturally from the plant's genes:
a small coral flower that's already
bloomed and faded rapidly,
trailing a lingering soft scent

the other two were grafted long ago
to the main branches, the one now
peaking out shines in shades of teal,
displaying an upturned petal cup
on either end of its pipe-like horizontal
blossom, rather like the scales of Justice
weighing the moment, and is the only
one of the three to bear a name:
"Hollow Wallow"

and now the long awaited season of the third
of the grafted blooms begins, though none
as yet are opened or giving any hint
of shape or color to come from beneath
their petals spiraling close around
each center like untried wings


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-2-14. The more I've been typing and deleting what I see in this dream the more I find it difficult to get down clearly in words. The layers slip around and defy expression. Yes, simply put: past, present, future. But which and whose? Yes, a world time line but also a personal one. Then again, what about this ephemeral past/present/future rising and falling and rising again beneath my fingers as I type that is (to my understanding) the fabric of it all? Ah well, I'm sounding here much like that second stanza, trying to weigh something that's gone as soon as I reach out to put it on the scales. Of course none of this addresses that third stanza. I guess I'll go with the urge to pin that third down and say maybe I could just relax and let all things unfold, be surprised and grateful as they do, and then let them go (fly away). Then there's where the bush is growing, on street level in the shadows of an overhead elevated train station. That has more layers than an onion. Sigh, I think I'll just let the dream do its work with no further fussing by me. BTW, at a gut level I do feel this is a positive dream. Despite or maybe even because it runs through my fingers like water when I try to wrestle it to the mat. Photo art "Teal Ticklers" (3-3-14a 015v4) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.

RIDING ON THE FLOOD (photo art) & "the baby's cry..." (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

the baby's cry clearly communicates
his distress, but there's another layer
riding atop it like an harmonic line

on a sympathetic flood comes
the thought: how soon these little ones
learn to deny their pain with lyricism


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-2-14. I often stress here how a dream's character(s) and even objects can be aspects of myself. This is quite true here. However, this is one dream in which it was clear I was even more primarily making a deep, felt connection to others and what they go through, too. And by implication, that for all my self-vaunted intuition and empathy, I can be a big baby sometimes. I.e., thinking I'm the only one who goes through certain things. BTW, "harmonic" is a word I've heard used interchangeably with overtone ("a musical tone that is a part of the harmonic series above a fundamental note and may be heard with it"). I learned both terms when taking didjeridu lessons. One can even play the didj a certain way so that only the high harmonic is heard. (A very high, sweet whispery or light bell-like tone, which is quite a contrast to a didj's natural deep throated drone.) Photo art "Riding the Flood" (2-8-14a 014v2) by Roswila -- that calla lily was not morphed in Photoshop, that's how it grew]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.

BLIZZARD (photo art) & YIN/YANG (dream narrative) by Roswila

YIN/YANG

lethargic polar bears crowd a small ice floe
taking no particular notice of the huge chunks
of chopped beef we've put out for them

their entire environment is melting away
as surely as the glaciers and we're here
hoping to save these starving bears

but they ignore the meat, noting it no more
than a pile of icy snow when they lumber
around an obstructive chunk of it

in a burst of inspiration I make the trip
back onto the floe to quietly slice
the cold chunks of chopped beef
into smaller pieces with my cutlass

when done I rest at the far edge
of the floe breathing heavily, hoping now
they'll start eating and stop starving

even as I see they're still uninterested
in the meat, I realize a female bear
has come up close behind me
and almost before the hairs can rise
on the back of my neck she tries
to bite down softly on it

ah HAH! I think, that's it! the meat's cold,
it must be warm to get their attention,
but I'd better get this languid female
off my back before addressing
this change in our rescue approach

I yell out for help to my environmentalist
cohorts in the distance where they mill
about on solid if snowy ground

as I wrestle gently with the polar bear
and wait for my associates to arrive
I wonder how best we might serve
warm meat to these endangered bears

a pale gold full moon has risen,
along with the space station wheel
strung with lights in the shape
of a five-pointed star and turning slowly
as it partially overlaps the round moon

my vulnerable neck forgotten for the nonce
I yearn for a camera, such a glorious
fleeting pair! natural and man made
together lighting up the dark,
a scintillating yin/yang


[narrative on a dream of 3-1-14. There are (as usual) a couple of ways I can relate to this dream and I choose the more positive slant. That there is hope we humans can get things into balance on our planet again. An image of hope is that "star," as in The Star card of the Tarot which is most often read to symbolize hope. Along with my ultimate association to the pair as a yin/yang image. This issue of balance, of course, applies in my personal life as well. My stepmother used to say I was like a polar bear. (I.e. apparently chilly, but really a cuddly bear.) Given this, I wonder what part of me is starving, adrift, and out in the cold, and why. Something I'll be mulling over today as I go about my chores. Photo art "Blizzard" (4-29-11 10811ev2) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.