NETTING THE NIGHT (photo art) & NIGHT WATCH (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

NIGHT WATCH

a young man in a khaki work shirt
stops at the sill of the door
onto the city night
limned softly
by hallway lights

my friend and I stand and watch
in a lobby across the street stunned
wordless by the sudden beauty

only a Rembrandt could
pin this moment: hovering
shapes and overlapping
shadows like dark angels
about to take flight
and at the center
the young man dancing
without moving

then he breathes deeply once
twice as if taking the first
drafts from a cigarette after
or bracing for what's to come
and ambles away
into the long night

leaving my friend and me
to bear the fading afterglow
of a young man paused reflecting
on the threshold of his next step


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-6-14. I started searching for the metaphors to use in a poem on this dream as the dream was ending. Even noting while still asleep a vague resemblance to the shadows and highlights in the famous painting, The Night Watch, by Rembrandt. (Of course now, having made that connection, any photo of mine I post with this poem will pale awfully by comparison.) I read about this painting many years ago and had consciously forgotten it's about military men about to "march out." But it seems my unconscious still had that info, as my association to this dream overall was immediately to the sadness of early death. Yesterday was D-Day and all I could think of as I watched the news clips was how terribly young those soldiers were. And that takes me to those deaths in my own life that came so awfully young. Yet clearly the beauty of those lives is still with me and for that I am grateful. Photo art "Netting the Night" (9-13-10 10010v4) 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,

[a/k/a 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.

AT A GALLOP (photo art) & RAIN (dream tanka) by Roswila

RAIN

oh, wow! it's raining!
the grass is already greening
beneath our bare feet
we run and slide on the lawn
like children released from school


[tanka on a dream of 6-5-14. This little dream is soaked (pardon the pun) with wishes granted. For rain to end the actual drought here in California. For some lighthearted companionable fun in my life again. For the ability to run (or skate or bike ride ... arthritis put the kibosh on those ages ago). For a break from all this intense learning I've been going through on an inner level. I'd say also to feel young again, except that I don't feel old in my mind/spirit, only in my body. Inside is an odd agelessness that still runs and slides on wet lawns (when not all caught up in school). Photo art "At A Gallop" (9-13-10 10002e) 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.

NO PASSAGE (photo art) & HELP! (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

HELP!

hand after hand grabs onto her arms,
her legs, from behind, from beneath
no, no, what's going on here?
just let me go, let me flee
this long aisle and this huge market,
please, please, just leave
me be, she thinks

though she tries to yell for help
her throat stays as tightly closed
as any hermetically sealed meal
lying frozen in a back wall display

she tries again, only a whispery
"help" escapes, she fights again
and again to propel a clarion
"Help!" from her uncooperative
throat, even as she wonders vaguely
why she's so desperate to escape
the clutches of this place of wide
ranging nourishment

and what about that man
and the friendship he'd been offering
when her urge to flee and the grasping
hands appeared at the same
awful moment?

a piercing "Help!" finally bursts
from her mouth as she startles
awake out of this confusing dream
into a hazy morning, worried now
to the contrary that she'd yelled
loud enough to be heard


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-4-14. Photo "No Passage" (9-13-10 10047v2) 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,

[a/k/a 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.

THE CLASH (photo art) & INKING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

INKING

a long time friend
sputters angrily at her
splattering black ink
all over her face

as the dark drops slide down
her cheeks like tears
she hurries to the bathroom
to mop herself off

although she's willing
to take her lumps
in this life
she hopes for once
it's not indelible ink


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-1-14. Photo art "The Clash" (6-2-14 016v6) 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,

[a/k/a 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.

PARCHED (photo art) & "a robin hops ..." (non-dream monoku) by Roswila

a robin hops past the drying fern still no rain


[non-dream monoku written 6-3-14. Photo art "Parched" (6-2-14 016v7) 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,

[a/k/a 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.

THE (Taiga Tarot) EMPRESS CARD & UNHINGED (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

UNHINGED

the wood door's not only large
but very heavy, between its size,
weight and the layers of slick
old varnish I can't keep a grip
on it long enough to angle it
back up on to its hinges

oh, well, maybe it's just as well,
with all the entrances and exits
around here recently all it did
before becoming unhinged
was to block the way or let out
all sorts of wild creaks and slams
as if upset it had to do its job

it would make much more sense
just to break this obstruction
completely down into splinters
for winter kindling


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-1-14. My immediate association to this door was to The Empress (III) -- the archetypal mother, among other things -- in the Tarot deck. In many decks, an Hebraic letter is corresponded to each of the Majors. III's is usually Daleth, which in noun form means door. I have personally understand this to say that birthing brings a soul not only into life but into death, i.e. birthing is a door that ultimately swings both ways. All that said, this dream is less about birthing/dying specifically, I'd say, than about changes, in the sense of moving from one space into a different one. And my personal yearning for smoother transitions. As to the connotation to "unhinged"? Yes, I have been feeling a bit unhinged these days. Image: "The Empress" in my Taiga Tarot, a deck in progress; III is often depicted as pregnant therefore that curving of the stars like Her belly; she also usually has stars in her crown, and often represents creative abundance -- 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,

[a/k/a 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.

JUNE GLOOM LIFTS (photo) & "tiny tweets ..." (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

tiny tweets somewhere
in the unfinished condo
against a faint blue sky
morning sun burns off the haze
as the shadows grow darker


[non-dream tanka written 6-1-14. Photo "June Gloom Lifts" (6-1-14 002v4) was taken this morning overlooking our retirement community's pool; that's a plastic swan, BTW. Tanka & Photo 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,

[a/k/a 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.