Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm

SEE ALSO: TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT (photos, realistic to abstract)

Saturday, December 06, 2014

NO WAY OUT (photo) & ON THE LINE (dream narrative) by Roswila


ON THE LINE

everyone's up in my business!
don't they get that if they just
leave me and this young bank teller be
I'll be off the line and out of their ways
that much faster?

I've already taken responsibility
for leaving my checks where they
could be pilfered and I won't bore anyone
with the tale of what I went through with
that sugar-won't-melt-in-her-mouth thief
(I never did get all the checks back)

and that mullet-wearing guy
toward the back of the line?
sure he's obstreperous, obnoxious even,
but everyone trying to convince him
(no matter how charmingly) to give up that
old-fashioned hair style won't cut short
his endless nonsensical defense

and this bank guard? he's the worst
of the lot! Mr. Understanding, explaining
endlessly how he used to have a mullet,
too, and that cutting it changed his life,
especially how his family viewed him

Ack! what business is it of any of these folk
how I and anyone else manage
our affairs and, quite frankly,
I've always liked long hair on men
(in fashion or not) but I don't go around
obstructing progress, expressing my opinion
in a saccharin stage whisper and tedious detail

hey, things are complicated enough for me
a little patience, not to mention quiet,
as I work through all that I have on the line
right now, would be very helpful

however I know I'm only spitting
into the wind with that wish

there are just too many different ways
any one situation is perceived by folk
(much less understood) and each generates
its peculiar imperative


[narrative on a dream of 12-4-14. Yes, this is about objective busybodies. However, more importantly, it's about my own way too busy, endlessly opinionated mind. I'm brought back to that expression "Don't believe everything you think." Photo "No Way Out" (12-2-14 007v4) 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.

Friday, December 05, 2014

IN THE SWIM (photo) & "gnarled tree roots..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila


gnarled tree roots
arch like backs from rain soaked earth
sounding whales


[non-dream haiku written 12-4-14. Photo "In the Swim" (12-5-14 001v5) by Roswila. I rarely illustrate a poem with a pic -- usually just echo it in some small, often very indirect way. But I decided to take this pic on my morning walk today because it was regret, in a way, that inspired this haiku yesterday. A twinge of regret that I had not tried to get a shot of these roots. Well, no regret now but also no great satisfaction from the effort. And I can't get other possibly better angles on the roots (and that dang wall) due to where they are and my arthritic limbs. Oy! No more complaints. At least I think I've fussed enough with the pic to bring out what I saw in the roots.]

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.

Thursday, December 04, 2014

GODDESS ON A HALF SHELL (photomorph) & "a wall of paintings..." (dream tanka & 2-liner) by Roswila


a wall of paintings
draws me back to muse on two
shining Goddesses:
Demeter the Earth Mother,
Harodata* the Sacred Whore

I bathe in the energy pulsing
where their disparate gazes meet


[previously posted tanka (2-liner added 12-4-14) on a dream of 9-11-08. *My dream world tossed up this name. (BTW, it was accented on the second syllable and all the vowels were said much as the "o" in Goddess.) I came across the tanka searching for something to post today as I have no viable dream recall from last night. I added the closing two-liner today -- based on vague dream recall precipitated by the tanka -- to make this dream poem feel more complete. Photomorph "Goddess on a Half Shell" (11-4-14 026v2a) 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.

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

RENDERING (photomorph) & PERFORMANCE ART (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


PERFORMANCE ART*

she wanders alone
in Manhattan's Loisaida**
as if through a dream
draped in old memories and vexed
that nothing stays solid for a second
the ongoing act of perception
like a sculpting of wet raw clay,
as streets morph into handwriting she thinks:
waking or sleeping it's all performance art


[free verse poem (made from a tanka capped by a pair of two liners, run together) on a dream of 12-2-14. *Performance Art, which term carries a many layered significance for me. **Loisaida (aka Alphabet City), the historically Hispanic lower east side of New York City, which city is my old home town. Overall, the dream offers an understanding (via my associations to a book I'm reading) that challenges some of the current thinking on how we perceive and remember. At one level and extremely oversimplified, the dream can be read to say: "Life is what you make of it." Photomorph "Rendering" (12-2-14 028v4) 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.

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Untitled photo & INSIDE OUT (non-dream tanka) by Roswila


INSIDE OUT

this lengthy drought needs
more than one heavenly gift
to end it, but still ...
waking to the welcome sound
of tires on the rain slick street


[non-dream tanka written 12-2-14. Untitled photo (12-2-14 021v3) by Roswila; taken this morning after writing the tanka and only shared here to show that rain slick street (and the "disappeared" mountains)]

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.

Monday, December 01, 2014

FALL LAUNDRY DAY (photo) & AUTUMN READING (dream tanka trio) by Roswila


AUTUMN READING

the Tarot reading
resembles a spreading oak
in the throes of fall
its beauty still draws the eye
but the leaves are drained of life

I would offer
to replicate this old reading
for my long-time friend
with one of my other decks
as he's forgotten its message

but that would be
like trying to paste autumn
leaves back on the tree
the connection's long gone
transformed in the falling moment


[three tanka on a dream of 11-30-14. Photo "Fall Laundry Day" (10-4-14 027) 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.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

THE DREAM DISPERSES (photomorph) & ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT TIMES THE FOOL (free verse dream poem) by Roswila


ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT TIMES THE FOOL

she needs cash
I need cash
this long line of folk
all wait to cash checks
in this old fashioned high ceilinged
bank on the hill

she presents her check
for one hundred and eight dollars
slip-flap, slip-flap, slip-flap
the teller counts out the bills

what a coincidence
my check, too, is for that amount
and as quickly cashed
by the carefully bland faced teller
across the marble topped counter
worn concave by decades
of counting

the next person finishes writing
out a check on reaching the teller
clearly not comfortable with English
muttering "one...hun...red...
an...eight...DAH...luhz..."

it seems everyone
on the still considerable line
wants this same amount
what are the chances of that
of everyone wanting the same thing,
at the same time, in the same place
and even further, apparently getting it

what a dream ... ah yes, that is exactly
what this is, I think
and wakefulness spreads like a mist

I float out of the bank as out
of a cloud singing wryly "...but the fool
on the hill sees the sun going down
and the eyes in his head
see the world spinning round..."*


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-29-14. *from the Beatles song The Fool on the Hill. And I've been singing it in my head all morning. Photomorph "The Dream Disperses" (10-1-11 11319v14c) 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.