URBAN HAUNT (photomorph) & HOTEL CALIFORNIA, Dream One (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

HOTEL CALIFORNIA
(Dream One*)

my woman friend and I
need to return a small flat package
of odds and ends
to a mutual friend, so we walk
to the building where he lives

the passages as
we approach get narrower
with each we slip through,
and each frame's far darker
than the preceding one

at last we reach our goal: Hotel California

a frightening sight,
it looks at first to be only
a burned out old shell,
but it's just in horrid disrepair
and painted black, over and over,

layers peeling and flaking even with no wind
to pester at its ancient wide timbers

it's sad to see that
it's now home to thieves and addicts,
a large dark man standing
on guard before the entrance,
questioning all who would enter

he gives my friend and me
passage, though not without some
obvious concern
at first: what could we two gals
possibly be doing in this place?

the entrance doorway
is the narrowest passageway
we've encountered yet,
and we worry about safety even
should we be able to squeeze in

I suggest we leave
our package inside the door
and she agrees
I lean in and quickly drop it
on the right side of the lobby floor

we turn around and go back through the series
of narrow passages, away from Hotel California

I comment rather
wryly that I'd never have fit through
these narrow portals
when I weighed 356 lbs.,**
not that it matters anyway,

as what did this effort amount to, we were too afraid
to even try to meet our friend on his own home ground


[mixture of tanka and two-liners on the first of two lengthy dreams of 7-11-15. *The second dream/piece, RETURN TO HOTEL CALIFORNIA, will be posted tomorrow. **I did actually weigh 356 around the turn of the century, but have in the ensuing 15 years come down in weight considerably (to put it mildly). These two dreams (today's & tomorrow's) were dreamed on the same night, with a waking break between them. I've been working on them each day since the day after I dreamed them. And am not sure how much of my continuing hesitation about posting them is due to worry over their craft or their length, both of which do bother me a bit. However, I also realize I might be resisting levels to this pair that I've not yet acknowledged. Maybe posting will ultimately out whatever might still be hiding behind the metaphors. Click here for the lyrics to the old Eagles song, Hotel California, snatches of which I vaguely heard in both dreams. Photomorph "Urban Haunt" (9-23-12 12152v10a) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers, as the above is), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,

[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** 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.