THE MELEE (photomorph) & THE FRAY (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

THE FRAY

the conference room's
tightly packed with managers,
from middle level
on up, as a young woman starts
trying to chair the meeting

she soon learns they will not follow the agenda
or her gentle guidance of their fractious discussions

she exits the fray, becoming an audience of one

the chair falls to me
I innocently think all they need
is a stronger hand
at the reins, and I speak out,
definitely and directly

a higher level
manager abruptly interrupts
to demand stats shared
at the meeting's beginning
as he'd been a late arrival

I suggest firmly
but politely that he wait
'til this discussion's
over, but he refuses
as he's going to leave soon

others start talking
among themselves, one testifying
for the high level
manager's demand as if I were
on trial for subordination

if I had a towel I'd throw it in, as there are too many
different and conflicting needs and understandings here

my head's still spinning
as I join the first chair woman
in just observing,
and I wonder how many more
will choose to join us at this remove

maybe (though I'd rather not endure the process)
this chaos will all come out in the wash


[tanka series with several two-liners and one monoku interspersed on a dream of 6-7-15. This is as much about my inner life as it is about my all too often experience of being social. Photomorph "The Melee" (5-27-15 017v7) 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.