THE ESCAPE (photo) & LONG BEFORE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

LONG BEFORE

long before it should be able to
the tiny infant crawls rapidly
away across the wood plank floor

I scramble after it on all fours, too,
laughing and grasping for its heels
to stop it from getting too far
from the protective circle
its mother and I make

it quickly turns when it feels
my light touch and crawls
right back to sit next to my butt
on which an alert little dog perches
like the outlook on a castle rampart

the infant quickly and oh-so-seriously
intones to the dog whose tail starts
wagging like a flag in a snappy breeze:
"Get down, Jack!"
its speech even more astounding
than its early ability to crawl

its mother and I exchange quick glances
filled with delight but undergirded
with concern

how does one set caring boundaries
on such precocity or do they even
need to be set at all

for once the baby continues to sit still
looking from one of us to the other
as if searching for an early sign
of our next move


[free verse poem on a dream of 2-13-15. Photo "The Escape" (2-3-15 19039ev3) 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.

ABOVE THE FRAY (photo) & WHEN THINGS FALL APART (pair of dream narrative poems) by Roswila

WHEN THINGS FALL APART

dream one:

there's an explosion on one end
of the intergenerational star ship
startling all of us who've grown up
on this ship, never in fact known
any other world, into a stampede
down the endless corridor away
from encroaching vacuum

a tiny blonde toddler girl is swept
off her feet in the crush of those
around her and does not get up
I know I cannot fight the tide
of people rushing in panic
to go back and get her
I can barely stay upright
and running myself

then miraculously she's darting
along right next to me and I lift
her immediately into my arms
bundling her against one shoulder
and keep on fleeing

no child, much less one so tiny
and young, should have to struggle
alone just to stay alive


dream two:

what the blazes is wrong with my copier?

these repair guys are taking forever
and why all the newfangled stuff
they seem to want to install?

I haven't requested any upgrades, all I want
is my printer in working order again

and that young Mexican American boy
on the carpet, dabbing at that ink spill
what's he up to? each dab he makes
actually leaves a small dark mark
like the silhouette of a tiny curved leaf

and why does he keep cocking his head
again and again, pausing each time
like an artist examining his new painting
for patterns to play with


[narrative poems on two of the dreams from 2-12-15. Photo "Above the Fray" (2-12-15 001v2) 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.

DAYBREAK (photomorph) & REINS OF GOLD (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

REINS OF GOLD

what to do with the only image
coming with me into morning:
the words "Reins of Gold"
that somehow I know should be
title case to carry them

but pray tell just what significance
do they guide me toward
and more importantly
which of the capitalized words
bears the greater weight

that which directs and at times contains
or that which beams diffusely
like the sun of spirit

or are they truly one and the same
as they rest against my analytical
thoughts urging me to go
in the opposite direction
with their shining touch


[free verse poem on a dream of 2-11-15. BTW, neck reining a horse is what I'm hinting at in that last stanza. In neck reining, if the reins are laid against the left side of the horse's neck, the horse goes to the right while also looking to the right. Photomorph "Daybreak" (2-7-15 019v12a) 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.

LOOKING BACK (photomorph) & SNOWY TRIO (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

SNOWY TRIO

down the snow pile
into the street
skiing bag of trash

* * * *

"Kiss Me I'm Irish!"
the button on the snow
shoveller's parka

* * * *

by the frosted window
I await the sight of your face
the sun always returns


[three haiku (non-dream) from winter 2007, March 2007, and early 1990's, respectively. I'm posting these in solidarity, if you will, with all my friends living in the snowed-under northeast. They were written when I was still living in New York City. The first two during my last winter there. (For all you spelling whizzes out there -- I'm definitely not one of you -- "shoveller" is correct. With a single "l" it's a type of bird. Had to Google it as spell check doesn't like either spelling.) Photomorph "Looking Back" (8-25-13 007v2a) 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.

ECHOES OF GRACE (photo) & "her dancing gestures..." (dreamku) by Roswila

her dancing gestures
unrelated to her words
new poetry form


[dreamku written January 2007 (posted 2-10-15). Stumbled across this old one along with the one I posted yesterday. It puts me in mind of the often very slim connection between my poems and the pix I choose to go with them here. It also raises memories of the gazillions of poetry readings I went to, back in the decades I lived in New York City. Readings at which I was almost always a reader. In one reading many, many years ago, I shared a different painting of mine with each poem I performed. And in the later years I often improvised on one of my wind instruments in between poems. So "multi-media" was something I experimented with, as did other readers in their own ways. I particularly enjoyed improvising atmospheric music behind some other reader who would invite me to do so. Once a couple of dancers improvised a dance to a lengthy poem of mine as it was read (sans any music) by someone else. Which particular memory, come to think of it, may have seeded this dreamku's source dream.]

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.

BENDING RIGHT TO IT (photomorph) & "the style catches on..." (dream monoku) by Roswila

the style catches on bending over backwards


[dream monoku (one line haiku) revised in 2009 from a dreamku (three line haiku) written in 2007. This one always makes me laugh as I recall there were a bunch of people in the dream literally bending over backwards. BTW, I heard that as a loud message to go out of my way in the particular situation the dream was addressing. Photomorph "Bending Right To It" (1-17-15 010v3ia) 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.

CONNECTIONS (photomorph) & MAKE BELIEVE (narrative dream poem) by Roswila

MAKE BELIEVE

a woman even older than I
shakes her carefully coiffed head
in sad puzzlement

how can you, she asserts, really believe
they don't love you, and more,
how can you claim that they no longer
matter to you in any binding way

when, she quickly points out,
there's all these complicated connections,
like that messy mass right there before our eyes
of cables and plugs dangling behind
your computer desk

I sink back into my chair,
how can I explain it all with any hope
of being understood, I might as well try
to send words through those cables
in lieu of electricity and expect it all
to work sensibly

but even should I find a way is it ever
any kindness to challenge someone's
hard won, comforting world view,
one that's sustained them for so long
through this tumultuous life,
with one's own endless doubts and questions

and if I believe in anything about
that over-touted and arguable concept, love,
it's that if it exists at all, kindness
must be at its heart

if it would not puzzle her further,
prompting more questions that I simply
should not answer, I'd say that it's no kindness
at all, either to them or to me,
to continue to make believe


[narrative poem (or dream narrative?) on a dream of 2-7-15. Photomorph "Connections" (2-3-15 2479ev5a) 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.