LISTEN UP! (photo) & COMMON GROUND (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

COMMON GROUND

I keep trying to help my former roommate
find the recently laid down flooring
in her home ... unfortunately,
we're talking on the phone and she
tends not to visualize very well

so for all my carefully constructed
descriptions, employing various metaphors
and shared memories, she can't find the new floor

yet I can see it clearly in my mind's eye
from where I sit in front of my T.V.
and across the continent from her,
its vast expanse shining a golden brown,
its parquet pattern unique,
more like flickering patches
of garden shadows and light,
a new and common ground
on which to stand


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-11-15. Photo "Listen Up!" (6-4-11 11067v2) 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.

AGAINST THE WIND (photo) & "shoo, fly! ..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

shoo, fly! leave me be
there's too much flyin' 'round
on this windy day


[haiku written 9-27-14. I have several long dream poems left from that spring break I took recently, ready for posting. And two dream poems from last night's dreams already in draft form. But thought I'd give us a break from lengthy pieces. Not to mention that this haiku is pretty much how I've been feeling for some time, metaphorically speaking. I.e., lotsa horse pucky on the wing these days, both mine and everyone else's. Photo "Against the Wind" (5-16-11 10985v2) 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.

SEEKING MAGENTA (photo) & ON RABBITS AND WHIPPETS ("poetically licensed" dream narrative) by Roswila

ON RABBITS AND WHIPPETS

my good woman friend tugs me by the hand
excited to introduce me to the new folk she's met
whom I simply must get to know

I'm not at all inclined to meet anyone
but turn myself around so as not to cause a fuss ...
yikes! they're all huge dog racing fans!
why would my friend think I'd be interested?
doesn't she know me at all?

there's absolutely nothing I can say
about the sport, at least not pleasant as I have
only disturbing memories of a great sadness
as I watched pale whippets race
after a fake rabbit around a track

but to be polite (or more honestly put,
not to shame myself by revealing my poor
social skills) I ask one enthusiastic young
woman how she came to be
interested in this sport

as I do, I gesture with one hand and note
a strand of magenta wool hanging
from my sleeve: my favorite sweater's unraveling!

I don't even hear her reply as I focus carefully
on pulling the loose strand from around my cuff,
hoping that once I get home I can take the time
to find the root of the problem and fix it

but more and more magenta threads begin to flap
loose and while I wrestle with the proliferation
of circling strands, the woman friend who dragged
me here expresses her pique at how rude
I'm being and (her voice rising in pitch)
that I don't even seem to care
that she did it for me

I'm quite certain now that there won't be
anything left to mend by the time I finish
going round and round chasing
after illusory fixes


[poetically licensed narrative on a dream of 6-9-15. Calling this one a "poetically licensed narrative" is only partly a joke. I made the connections to the (at least partial) significance of the various images the way I find poetic ones. And that last stanza is a conscious expression of where I feel the total dream going, taking off from the implications of the dog race image. I'd say almost all of the pieces I've called narratives here have also been "poetcially licensed." BTW, that sad memory of seeing whippets racing is an actual very old one that I recalled in the dream. Photo "Seeking Magenta" (5-27-15 018v4) 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.

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.

FRACTURED (photomorph) & IN THE UNDERGROUND GARAGE (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

IN THE UNDERGROUND GARAGE

their vehicle's parked
in a sprawling, poorly lit
underground garage
when a shiny black jeep smashes
head first into their car's front end

the jeep folds up like
a piece of paper from the sudden
force of the impact
their car fares better, bearing
only a dent in the front grill

just as she wonders
out loud why this crash wasn't
a lot worse for them,
their driver tumbles out of
his door onto the asphalt

he lies there holding
the right side of his neck:
he's been shot!
she can't see any blood but still
begs him to go to the hospital

he refuses, and if she didn't know better she'd start
to think she's in the filming of a grade B movie

she looks around, none of the cars coming or going
slow when they pass -- she awaits the shout of "Cut!"


[tanka series capped by two two-liners on a dream of 5-25-15. Both a wish that all this "sturm und drang" of my life right now were only a low budget, not-to-be-taken-very-seriously movie. And some advice to pull back from my life, more into the position of an observer. To watch the "lila," the divine play of creation and destruction. This issue of becoming more of an observer is also addressed in a more recent dream, for which I'm still drafting a mixed format dream poem. BTW, I think "observing" is another way of addressing being less attached. Which, of course, is a heck of a lot easier said than done. Photomorph "Fractured" (4-29-11 10811ea) 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.

STARLIGHT IN MOTION (photo) & ANOTHER DAY (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

ANOTHER DAY

the highly touted
tai chi class is in the stacks
of the library?
well, who am I to question,
not having practiced in decades

but I still find it
puzzling, as only students
at the very front
won't have their views mostly
blocked by these tall wood shelves

and the scheduling!
we've been waiting for an hour,
regulars don't find
this a problem, adding their belief
it's a way to prove commitment

at last the teacher
starts, with one of the hardest
moves to accomplish,
one the requires a head stand,
and then promptly takes a long break!

sigh, though there may be something here for me to learn,
how something is taught matters even more to me

maybe I'll come back another day and explore through
the vast variety of books on these lovely wood shelves


[tanka series capped by two two-liners on a dream of 5-25-15. This feels like a mash-up of "The Emperor's New Clothes" and that old Marshall McLuhan quote "The medium is the message." BTW, I did actually take Tai Chi classes (I think I recall it was the "long form" being taught) decades back. And I enjoyed the names of the various sections, almost as much as the fluid slow motions. E.g. "the fairy weaving at the shuttle" or "taking the tiger to the mountain." Photomorph "Starlight In Motion" (4-25-11 10768v10a) 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.

SKY WRITING (photo) & WILTED (short-short dream story) by Roswila

WILTED

I idly sketch charcoal grey blossoms on the silvery tablet screen. They begin to swirl, to waltz into a pearlescent blur. The tablet screen clears. What was the subject the teacher just gave us to write about? Ah, yes, flowers. Well, if not an original idea, certainly a broad enough topic when one lets associations trail along.

The teacher wanders the room, standing briefly like a trellis behind each student in turn. The woman to my right reads what's she's written so far in a sunny voice, her words like a daisy chain. I hope I won't have to read mine. It will break my stream of unconsciousness. A fizz of relief flushes my cheeks as the teacher passes me by for the man to my left. He intones from his pad in large bricks of words, laying the foundation for a gothic garden. I have the sudden urge to write something red. I switch to my fuchsia pen and words start spreading across my tablet. Fuchsia's not really the color for blood but I'll see how it goes:

"Oh the heat of my heart's blood when I see his handsome face. In this sterile office hallway the buzz he unselfconsciously gives off is electric. As if he were an entire field of solar panels. I've never been the type someone such as he would choose. But here he is, extending his hand to me, asking for a dance. Even before I enter his arms I'm dizzy from looking in his periwinkle blue eyes. We spin lightly, waltzing on the grey carpet to his singing. I allow myself to join in ... 'When Irish eyes are smiling sure 'tis like a morn in spring...' Our voices bob in the imagined sunlight. An imperious call interrupts our blossoming connection. It's his boss demanding his presence elsewhere. His arms fade away from around me, and he turns silently to stride down the long hall. I crumple to the carpet like a wilted petal fallen from a hastily gathered handful of wild flowers."


[short-short story on a dream of 6-5-15. Many levels at once were going on as I dreamed this. I suppose not all at once but on recall it was difficult to know how they all managed to be part of the same dream. Of course, maybe they weren't and recall just organized them that way. Anyway, the levels: (1) as I dreamed I experienced the action of the "I" figure; (2) I saw quite a bit of the writing though it was more like fonts on a tablet screen and some was in the various colors I indicate above; (3) I saw that daisy chain and those bricks (a walkway or retaining wall maybe?) in a midnight field/garden; and (4) I saw that last section starting "Oh the heat..." even as I was beginning to find and see the words to write about it on that dream tablet. BTW, these words above are not the ones from the tablet. As almost always, I only retained the gist of the words I saw. Photo "Sky Writing" (4998 ev2) 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.