FACADE (photomorph) & ECHOLOCATION (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

ECHOLOCATION

all of it's backwards,
not wrong backwards, rather
just viewed backwards
as if out a speeding car's back
window, if you can believe that

OK, let me explain,
I'm riding here in this cab
being taken to
the cleaners by its owner,
a tall blonde curvaceous gal

(more on her later for now the odd trip here)

as all my linens
got soaked and dirty during my
housecleaning efforts,
I bundled them all up
and called this taxi cab

it sped rapidly
between housing developments
and garden apartments,
but I didn't see the cab around me
just the view going by into the past

and all the buildings
could have been only mildly tweaked
versions of a place
I lived as a child, some slightly more
rococo, others with more stories

some, old tenements,
every tiny balcony crowded
with drying laundry,
others, nouveau middle class
with white facades and no laundry

the sidewalks between
buildings were all in deep shadow
leading me to think
someone could get mugged
there even in broad daylight

and now I've arrived
the taxi cab's stopped short in front
of the cleaners,
time to give my bundled linens
over to the care of experts

though I will do so
it's not without some concern
do I really trust
this blonde owner whose confidence
and alacrity are a bit off-putting

and (how I know this
I don't know) she's not fully
on the up-and-up
or maybe it's a matter of more
resemblances, like those buildings

an echo isn't the real thing, though it proclaims
across the abyss that something's on the other side,

one has not only to arrive but be there awhile
to find out what that future's truly about


[tanka series with a monoku and two two-liners on a dream of 6-29-15. Those buildings did actually "echo" where I lived in Forest Hills, New York City, from when I was 8 to 12 years old. The contrasts in those dream buildings also echo my memories and feelings about those years. However, this dream is ultimately more forward looking (for the most part) than all that might imply. Photomorph "Facade" (4-24-13 12606v7) 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.