THE FOREST NEXT DOOR (photo) & THE CENTER IN THE WOODS (dream prose poem) by Roswila

THE CENTER IN THE WOODS

as the last of us begin to leave
the holistic center's campus in the woods
at season's end, a young man says to no one
in particular "How long do you think
the center will be here?" a tone of knowing
sadness pervading his inquiry

a young woman walks around
the wooden porch, trailing one hand
along the railing tops, reminiscing
out loud, and grieving the loss
that's not here yet

I say, equally sadly, that I'll be surprised
if the center makes it to next year, but maybe,
just maybe, it'll make it through
to offer one more season

another youngish man agrees with me,
as he and I amble slowly away
from the main building into the rapidly
darkening night ... what's the answer, he says,
and do you think there even is one?

to which I reply, maybe we need
to answer as if it's an entirely
different question

he nods, adding that that seems to be
where our last class facilitator
was trying to point our thoughts

as he walks on ahead of me into
the dark, I think to myself,
maybe the answer to any question
is to meld with the gravelly motion
of the path beneath one's feet
and to take sustenance from what
the slivers of moonlight have wrought
from the forest's shapes and shadows


[prose poem on a dream of 12-7-15. Oy! Here I go again, trying to decide what to call this dream piece. Until that last "stanza" I'd been thinking of it as a narrative. Yet that ending is poetic. However, more importantly, the source dream came when I fell back to sleep after drafting a poem in the middle of night on my feelings about having less dream recall than is my usual wont. It seems to be a poetic re-working and expansion of, as well as an answer to, what I was addressing in that earlier poem. So drafting this piece was like writing a poem that's about a dream about a poem about having no dreams (smile). BTW, I'll probably post that earlier piece here tomorrow. Also, after I went back to sleep again once I'd drafted the above piece, I had more dreams. But I've chosen not to write about them. Two lengthy poems are enough for one night's work, I'd say. And my worry about low dream recall, well, not gone but certainly much eased. Photo "The Forest Next Door" (11-27-15 007v4) 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.

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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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.