HANGING AROUND (photo) & OFF THE HOOK (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

OFF THE HOOK

the bathroom door just
won't stay shut! the robes I've hung
on the one brass hook
interfere, and my peach nightgown's
totally tangled in the latch

then I see three full
large brown paper shopping bags
stuffed to their brims
with all sorts of food, hanging
on new hooks, over my clothes

what the blazes?! ah, my roommate's at it again

though long deceased she's
lively enough as she explains she's
going on a trip
"So," I say "I can eat it up
if I find myself so inclined?"

"No," she replies "just
store it all for me in your fridge"
what an absurd demand!
she knows I have only so much
room in my small refrigerator

but more important:
those full bags are very heavy
making the hooks bend,
I really don't want to clean up
the mess the crash would make

I lift each of the hefty bags off its hook
and give it back to her for handling

it seems this time I've caught a mess
before it could even begin to happen


[tanka series, with one monoku, capped by two two-liners on a dream of 5-15-15. This is the dream/poem I mentioned yesterday, that feels like a forward step from yesterday's supermarket dream/poem. It's also an advance on a dream/poem I haven't posted yet (written during my blog break). Another bathroom dream, in which I'm faced with cleaning up a huge mess. BTW, the roommate was an actual one of mine who died decades ago. She occasionally shows up in dreams in various capacities and I'm usually aware as I'm dreaming that she's deceased. Photo "Hanging Around" (3-29-15 025v2) 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.