CALL OF THE DIDJERIDU (photo by a friend of Roswila, edited by Roswila), & FOOL ENOUGH (poetically licensed dream narrative) by Roswila

FOOL ENOUGH

first, I lose my shoulder bag (just say "mea culpa,"
prompts Observer Eye, "you know from long
experience not to leave it unattended")

then, my didjeridu gets stolen and a cheap plastic flute
left in the emptied carry case (Observer Eye very
reluctantly admits that this one's also on the thief)

next, a dizzying bit of foolishness (but only Observer Eye
judges it so, as Embodied I finds the effort grounding)
I organize and start to teach a beginner's ballet class,
even managing a few listing pirouettes while chattering on
about how I took ballet classes as a child

of course that child's feelings then get punctured when I
spontaneously offer my deep affection to a friend
who tells me (in a tone like Observer Eye's) that there's
a far more fitting way I could have done it

then, again and again, the end of the evening's last dream
returns to hosing water into a small tub packed with laundry
on an empty patio (Observer Eye scolds at last:
"And the dirty laundry's not even your own..."
I could almost read support in this parting shot,
if I were fool enough)


["poetically licensed" narrative on a dream of 6-19-15. Just in case it's not clear, the title is important to this narrative. I would hope that the reader on finishing the last stanza will ponder what the title now brings to the narrative's conclusion. I've often only half jokingly wondered if an ouroboros learns anything from holding its own tail in its mouth. In this case, I definitely did! Photo "Call of the Didjeridu" (1-11-09 1473ev3), Roswila playing one of her didjeridus 7-1/2 years ago]

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.

CANDLE (photo) & CONSTANTLY (tanka series on a dream) by Roswila

CONSTANTLY

the old lady says
she's moving out and won't be back,
that from now on I'll
have to care for the front lawn
and garden all by myself

I nod to let her
know I've heard, not feeling
up to explaining
that I've been sweeping away
the dead leaves alone for ages

"By the way" she adds,
"I've left a gift in the garden
that's very much like
a tall candle, to improve
on its lackluster ambiance"

as she walks away
I imagine a bright white
marble phallus in
the garden greenery, a burning
that constantly consumes


[tanka series on a dream of 6-1-15. Photo "Candle" (5-18-11 11001ev2) 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.

MAKING EXTENSIONS (photomorph) & THE LONG BREAK (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE LONG BREAK

the attraction between the man and me
is undeniable, though until now we've
maintained a distance as office romances
too often have negative fall out

but some things have a life of their own
and once we start talking at length
a connection grows like a delicate, pale
green vine, winding around the attraction,
our extensions overlapping
in a commonality

just as we start setting a date to meet
for dinner my desk phone rings,
it's my close friend, her tone betraying
how much she really needs to talk to me

I reluctantly say "Excuse me a moment"
to the man and listen to my friend:
her sister's condition has worsened
and just getting an ambulance
to take her to the hospital
has them tied up in endless red tape

I'm more deeply sympathetic then she can know
but also beginning to worry that I'd better
get back to work, between flirtation
and sympathy I've been on an awfully long break

I explain this to both the man and my friend
but as I hang up and turn away to start
on the pile of work in my IN BOX, I wonder
sardonically which is the greater cop out:

to nip a risky romance in the bud,
or to skirt around a caring
that hits too close to home


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-12-15. Photomorph "Making Extensions" (3-27-10 8679v9) 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.

ICE FLOE (photomorph) & SCENE IN WHITE (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

SCENE IN WHITE

the scene stretches out
like a tundra, or snowed-in beach
a tall pale-haired man
appears in the foreground
as a big white bird lands

the bird is clearly on the hunt, yards
away and moving toward the horizon

when it finally
pulls a brown rodent by its
long tail out of a
pile of snow, the man fingers
a large smart phone on his wrist

the bulky device
makes a series of crackling noises
when he aims it at
the bird dangling its prey
and it promptly drops the rodent

scared into a sudden awareness of the man
by the noisy device, one might well assume

but, no, the bird waddles right up to him
to receive a fish in its wide open bill,

payment for posturing for the man's smart phone,
for helping him create yet another nature photo

the dream observer steps back (metaphorically speaking)
what's to be made of this cold collusion

do we out smart ourselves, constantly recording
instead of being, and now even setting up the scenes?


[three tanka and several two liners on a dream of 5-1-15; dreamed & written during my blog break in May this year. Photomorph "Ice Floe" (10-3-11 11324v2c) 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.

BLOWING OFF STEAM (photomorph) & AT WHAT COST (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

AT WHAT COST

... all I'm attempting
to find out, I add quickly,
is the total cost ...
but both he and she maintain
their judgmental attitudes

it seems one's supposed
to simply buy their new product
and all the related
courses and literature,
no questions asked, no doubts

I start to wonder
if they even understand
much less believe in
it all themselves, but haul that
line of thinking up short

what matters is this
anxious doubting in my stomach
even as I'm drawn
to the mechanism's sleek,
steam iron-like, sci-fi design

should I take yet another dubious chance
on a hot new approach to old challenges

just how far am I willing to go this time
to try to iron out these crevasse sized wrinkles


[tanka series capped by two two-liners on a dream of 6-15-15. Photomorph "Blowing Off Steam" (5-27-15 005v4) 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.

ONE MAN'S TRASH... (photo) & CHANGE/LINGS (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

CHANGE/LINGS

she figures her worn cracked staff
will just fit in her tall trash can,
but squatting at the curb where
the container always was is a neat
nest of smooth rocks blushing
faintly in the morning light

she glances up and down
the suburban street, the same situation
greets her worried gaze everywhere:
rocks left in front of homes like alien
changelings in place of their garbage cans

she supposes this should be no surprise,
after all, the rules of the game have frequently
been changed at one unseen bureaucrat's whim
or another, and often without a moment's
notice, but this is going too far

this time how and even if one disposes
of the broken or no longer wanted
is being imperiously and secretly messed with,
silent thievery in the night

she stands holding her cracked staff
as if she were both guarding and laying claim
to the territory of her front yard

the changes stop here


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-12-15. Yeah, and you can hold back the sea with a net! Ah, well, maybe I should write something focusing only on those rock piles. Though I don't mention it in the above poem, they vaguely resembled ancient circles like Stonehenge. Photo "One Man's Trash..." (5-27-15 009v2) 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.

PRAYERFUL (photo) & WHERE THERE'S A WILL (dream narrative) by Roswila

WHERE THERE'S A WILL

the memorial gathering has an air of celebration
and deservedly so, as the deceased gave all of us
much to delight in that we will always have

a dear woman friend of mine wanted very much
to attend but is being stalked by dangerous folk
who will also be coming, and she feels
she probably shouldn't risk it

I watch as person after person arrives,
wondering which of them is a stalker,
then I see a familiar looking man entering

he's pudgy with short light brown
almost blonde hair, and wears a wrinkled,
ill-fitting tan suit

then it hits me! it's my woman friend in disguise,
minutely flashing a secret smile only
I would ever note much less recognize

I should have realized she would find a way
to honor what matters so much to her


["poetically licensed" narrative on a dream of 6-11-15. Photo "Prayerful" (5-18-11 10994v2a) 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.