GOOD NEWS (photo art) & CLEANING MY BRAIN (dream tanka trio w/two-liner) by Roswila

CLEANING MY BRAIN

the brain cleaning juice
takes longer to do its job
this time, but that's fine
I've used this bio-chem mix
before and it's quite thorough

and I'm enjoying
my friend's hovering care,
not to mention spilling
the good news I heard about
the job he'll soon be offered

ah, shadows have begun
to pool, that means the cleaning
is almost over,
more good news for my friend
as he further relaxes

and that smile! I'd clean my brain every day
if that would keep such boyish glee glowing


[three tanka capped by a two-liner on a dream of 3-14-14. In the dream I had a feeling of silliness and fun about my brain cleaning, yet the process was necessary and valid and clearly worried my friend. I've already had some possibly helpful associations to "brain cleaning," both pragmatic and psychological. And I just thought of "brain washing." Hm, am I feeling or afraid of being unduly influenced in some way? Photo art "Good News" (3-14-14 006v3) 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.

A DIFFERENT SLANT (photo) & WORKING MEMORY (dream narrative) by Roswila

WORKING MEMORY

she hurries around the high-rise
office building trying to find
her way, though exactly what
her way is she's not yet clear on,
only that she hasn't found it
in this maze of halls and rooms
as convoluted and endless
as any neural network

at least she recognizes these offices
from years past, the old editorial
headquarters of that romance book
publisher she'd worked for, she knows
this alternating arrangement of wide
then narrow halls like the backs
of her own hands

but examining the familiar gets
her no place, only bored and vaguely
anxious for she yearns to go someplace
new, surely her work here's been
completed and long ago

she begins avidly seeking an exit
from these rooms, this building,
but just finds more offices, warrens
of rooms at the ends of cul-de-sacs,
lit by vaguely flickering fluorescent
lights and smelling stringently
of carpet cleaner

her frustration intensifies along
with her hurry, she speaks to worker
after worker asking that they
point her to an exit, but they each
might as well be deaf for all
the response she gets as she
flits from one to the other

she stops her frantic rushing around,
planting her feet firmly on the grey
utilitarian carpet and speaking
out above the on-going hum
of the office hive, her tone and pitch
demanding to be heard by all:

"Someone just show me the way out!"

and at last a response, a dark-haired
young worker approaches her saying
he can help, but before she can even
feel relief he adds "... however, I have
to finish all my work first"

"Can't you even take the time
to draw me a little map?" she asks,
but only half-heartedly

she's beginning to see that the wages
of being in a rush when at the mercy
of memory at its work add up to nothing


[narrative on a dream of 3-12-14. I did actually work in the editorial headquarters of Harlequin/Romance book publishers in New York City, back at the turn of the century. I met a roommate there who was with me for 7 years, and I was working there on 9/11. And there's more yet in this "memory work." A busy night of neural connecting and re-arranging, I'd say. FYI, that's a reference to the theory that in certain sleep states our brains are busy moving memories from short term into long term memory, and hooking them up -- like making cross-references for them. This is the first dream I recall in which there was a vague awareness of that theory. Photo "A Different Slant" (3-3-14a 009v2) 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.

ON THE PATH TO OZ (photo art) & AT AN EDGE (dream tanka series w/two liner) by Roswila

AT AN EDGE

that younger male friend
of mine from decades ago
jumps from the huge ship
his long hair floats around him
as he slowly treads water

he's awaits the stag
on whose back he's going to ride
through this wide harbor
I watch as the immense hart's
lowered by winch to the water

my friend has his ride
but how will I reach dockside
in this foreign country?
but I needn't be concerned
just the thought wings me to land

walking upriver
I remember my camera
but don't take it out
I'm too anxious to arrive
in the city just ahead

but for its spiraled
towers it could be New York
against that skyline
and not a Russian city
I'm determined to reach

up close the buildings
are more varied than I'd thought,
more a potpourri
of ages and styles than pure
travel brochure Russian

while I look straight up
I begin framing a photo
with my inner eye,
the angles and contrasts
crying out for a shot

camera pulled out
I see I need to back up
and do so slowly,
trying to get more and more
of the scene into the frame

a sudden stumble
hauls me up short, I forgot
I was at an edge
only stories of empty
space between me and the street

but it's already
too late, I can't recover,
though I scramble about
grasping for non-existent
holds on the building facade

no, this will not do! I think as I plummet,
and wrestle myself into a false awakening*

the new dream bears no
falling nor even a landing,
it also has no
staying power, vanishing
like cotton candy from one's tongue


[tanka series with one two-liner just before the end, on a dream of 3-11-14. *"False awakening" as I'm using the term means I've lucidly (i.e. with awareness that I'm dreaming) stopped a dream, but not woken from sleep nor retained lucidity. Usually on those rare occasions when I make myself get out of a dream I can't/won't tolerate, I wake completely from sleep. However in this and in one or two other cases I can recall, once I ended the intolerable dream, I wound up in a totally different non-lucid dream. Even without recalling the post false awakening dream portion, this was a very lengthy dream. And I've even left out some action between the harbor scene and the city as it was too vague to get into satisfying written form. An image just occurred to me for this dream as a whole: a visit to Oz. Therefore, that's the photo art of mine that I'm posting here today, "On the Path to Oz" (3-10-10 10046ev2)]

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.

SONG OF THE SIREN (photo art) & AFTER THE OPENING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

AFTER THE OPENING

"Bill Clinton* not only recognized me there
in the first row applauding his performance
but was truly happy to see me," I think
as I pace the now totally empty theatre stage

the only light, a bare bulb stage lamp, spills
a warm glow over the floor boards
but can't touch the surrounding back stage
shadows that stand like dark masts
on a becalmed ship

I ponder how best to say "no" to Bill's
clearly flirtatious request to meet again,
as much as I'd like to resume our "affair
interruptus" I won't risk my new found
balance on that slippery slope

this phrasing and that phrasing occurs to me
while I try to re-write the denouement
to this well-known play

with honesty as my quill I try to get down
what perhaps should not be put into written
words if only for his reputation's sake

but ultimately cannot be fully expressed
because so drowned in alternating
floods of light then shadow

always and ever a poet's siren challenge
and binding task


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-10-14. *Yes, that Bill Clinton, our former President. He's one of a few famous men who appear occasionally in my dreams. In another fairly recent dream he was just a friend. However, usually there's something more going on. What I find more interesting about this dream though, is how it tries to address a poet's urge (more than urge, I cannot not write) to speak the ineffable. Or more accurately said, to create a containing symbol for what can't even be fully grasped in all it's contrasts and contradictions. (Can you tell I just finished the text of Jung's "Red Book" last night?) BTW, when I refer to myself as a poet that in no way indicates how skilled or not skilled I may believe myself to be. Only that I am driven to write. Photo art "Song of the Siren" (11-9-13 070v10) 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.

Cray-Oh-LAH! (photo art) & LEAPING TO THE OCCASION (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

LEAPING TO THE OCCASION

his little dog really takes to me
and me to him (the latter
quite unusual I note) following
behind me closely and leaping
to any occasion to be petted

maybe that's why I go with
my attraction to his master
despite what some might call
low self esteem, but I think of
as my early warning radar

(or maybe it's just time
again for a sexy dream, yes,
that must be it)

I return to the office
of this politician of questionable repute
ready for once just to play around
together and steam up his windows


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-9-14. This dream was vaguely lucid (aware I was dreaming) in the two places in parentheses. But quickly succumbed again to the regular dreaming state. The rest is censored. :-D Photo art "Cray-Oh-LAH!" (5-9-12 11931ev2) 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.

AFTER (photo) & BREATH TAKING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

BREATH TAKING

the painting depicts a stag at the height
of his leap across a deep forest stream
shining white gold and echoing
a lipizanner caught forever
in his breath taking arc

but more than frozen grace in the face
of gravity hooks this viewer's eye

where is this white hart headed?
what awaits his stretch at the end
of this trajectory's invisible bow?

no pot of gold gleams, nor even
a stream bank littered with wet stones
or soft with slippery moss glimmers
at painting's edge

and will he even make it over
the stream glittering with star light
beneath his belly, both his leap
and the stream shallower
than they appear on first glance

and the long curving lines
of his legs so delicate in their
extension, do they aim true
and if not can they bear
the weight of a landing
unsought, unprepared for

all these anxious questions
the answers for which rest outside
the painting's frame

one would do better to keep
breathing and focus on
the moment's beauty


[free verse poem on a dream of 3-8-14. "Lipizanner" = the famous European performing white stallions who are known for a leap into the air with legs artfully curved that seems to freeze there for a split second before landing equally as gracefully. Click here for the best exploration of "White Hart" history and mythology that I've come across. A white hart is also said to represent Herne/Cernunnos in mythology, a horned hunter god. What a lot of background for a dream that comes to an (albeit deceptively) simple point: stay in the moment. Photo "After" (3-1-14 018) 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.