ALL RUFFLED UP (photo) & ANOTHER EXCESS (dream tanka series w/one dreamku) by Roswila

ANOTHER EXCESS

first, it's young kittens
where are the tiny things, ah,
they're on his bed now
one seems happy to be found
the other could not care less

then, it's the hunting
for a turkey for dinner
in the manicured woods
(yes, very strange, woods
& manicured together)

but more than one bird
gets caught for packing into
the very small car,
each of the three of them a solid
black with a few large red feathers

one bird roped across
the front, displayed like a huge
hood ornament,
one crammed inside the car along
with the weirdly quiet kittens

but the third turkey
most hooks concerned attention,
dragged along behind
in a basket on a leather rope
bouncing and flapping wildly,

another excess,
red feathers flying in the air
like spurts of blood


[tanka series capped by a dreamku on a dream of 3-10-15. Actually I'm tempted to take an alchemical view of this dream given the stark red and black that I saw so clearly in the dream. And, yes, I've just started a book, "Jung and the Alchemical Imagination" by J. Raff, that is not only prompting this thought but also most probably influenced (at the very least) the red and black in the dream. They are, very simply put, the first and last colors in the transformational alchemical process. However, a stronger feeling comes from my immediate association of "turkey" to that expression meaning someone who's viewed as stupid, or a failure, or a sham. Then there's that silly thought I often have that turkeys look like a poor person's peacock. And peacock takes me right back to alchemy as there's a stage in the transformation called peacock because it's many colored. In any case, this dream will be interesting to dialogue with later. Yes, I have an urge to "talk turkey" with that poor bird being dragged behind like an unwanted afterthought. Photo "All Ruffled Up" (8-26-10 10002ev4) 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.