OPEN AIR CHAPEL (photomorph) & LA CATEDRAL (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

LA CATEDRAL*

how can they ever
rebuild this ancient cathedral?
it took centuries
to build the first time around
and it's nothing but a husk now

and even if they could find the requisite artisans
and laborers, the skills required are long forgotten

but they're determined
and the plan expressed does seem
plausible if hard:
start with what still stands tall
and build what their shapes imply

no, no, not what was,
but what those skeletal arches
against the blue sky
suggest to today's strong hands
and willing artistic hearts

there's absolutely
nothing wrong with something new
being built here,
taking off from the echoing
old into a different future


[tanka series with one two-liner interspersed on a dream of 5-28-15. *Several decades ago an acquaintance nicknamed me "Catedral" (Spanish for cathedral) because when I'd add 3" spike heels to my 5'9" frame I was a very tall lady. That nickname was my immediate intense association to this dream. The rebuilding focus of the dream took me right to my weight loss/exercise focus. And how different my body looks now from the last time I was at this lower weight (at least 30 years ago). Also, although I accept this lengthy process, I really hope it doesn't take the rest of the 21st century (smile). Especially as it's already taken the first 15 years of this century to come way down from my top weight of 356. I should add that this rebuilding applies not only to my body but to my inner world as well. Photomorph "Open Air Chapel" (5-24-15 021v3) 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.