SEEKING A WAY OUT (photomorph) & UNOPENED (dream narrative) by Roswila

UNOPENED

several friends and I explore
the maze of hallways in the new
campground's administration building

as we pass one large glass door
I see people rushing around inside
the room and get a distinctly sci-fi
feeling of peril about it all

as if, yes, they're trapped in there
but to free them would be
to release a dangerously insane
logic they've always lived by
into the general meme pool

yet my friends and I are expected
to pry the door open and release
that chaotic crowd of folk
since we're known as skilled helpers

I somehow sense it's imperative
not to out my deeply negative take
on those imprisoned in the room,
so start to fake a thoughtful pushing
at the stuck door to slide it open,
along with my friends, whom I soon
discover are faking their own efforts

I suppose it might make more sense
to simply tell the folk in charge
of this summer getaway spot
about our perceptions of danger
behind this unopened glass door
but neither I nor my friends, it seems,
see that as a viable option

what goes on behind closed doors
should stay there, even and especially
when one can see right through them


["poetically licensed" narrative on a dream of 7-3-15. Photomorph "Seeking Release" (5-1-13 12632ev5) 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.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME (photo) & IF ONLY THEY WEREN'T (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

IF ONLY THEY WEREN'T

my front door's ajar!
I tiptoe in, terrified
whoever broke in
may still be here, and carefully
check every room and closet

then, magically,
standing by the front entrance,
those two bad pennies
now I remember! I gave them
permission to stay with me

but not to break in
when I wasn't here and "set
up shop," so to speak,
just a couple days stay as they
have no where else they can flop

I tell them to move their luggage pile
to the spare room and right away,

reiterating "only two days,
so don't get comfortable"

unfortunately, this is going to be a battle
I can see the woman's barely listening

and the man's already sawing wood
in a sleeping bag by the front door

sigh, this is all my fault for saying yes
to begin with ... if only they weren't family


[three tanka capped by five two-liners on a dream of 7-2-15. Photo "There's No Place Like Home" (8-10-09 5364e) 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.

STILL SEEKING THE LIGHT (photo) & THE TURNING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE TURNING

he gives us a heads-up
that it will be a difficult
turn to make, to get
this long trailer house
into the tunnel
but that he's done it before

as the word "before" leaves
his mouth we feel a mild thud
at the front with no scraping
and then at the back end

as he straightens the house-
on-wheels we can see far
ahead toward where this tunnel
will ultimately issue us

a light shining there in the distance
like a golden white period
at the end of a run-on sentence


[free verse poem on a dream of 7-1-15. Photo "Still Seeking the Light" (5-24-15 004v2) 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.

STACKS (photo) & USEFUL (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

USEFUL

that man I don't relish
offers me his old bookshelves
just like some I have,
I accept them thinking they'll be
useful given how I amass books

he hovers around
as I begin to move furniture
to accommodate them,
telling me he knows where they'd
fit best and be most available

sheesh! I really don't need or want
all this running commentary

but zip my lip as
I've realized at last that
all he really wants,
just like so many of us do,
is to be of use in some way


[three tanka and a two-liner on a dream of 6-30-15. There's an initial implied similarity between the man and the dreamer (we have the same bookshelves) in addition to the final one. More to ponder. Photo "Stacks" (1-13-10 18973v2) 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.

FACADE (photomorph) & ECHOLOCATION (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

ECHOLOCATION

all of it's backwards,
not wrong backwards, rather
just viewed backwards
as if out a speeding car's back
window, if you can believe that

OK, let me explain,
I'm riding here in this cab
being taken to
the cleaners by its owner,
a tall blonde curvaceous gal

(more on her later for now the odd trip here)

as all my linens
got soaked and dirty during my
housecleaning efforts,
I bundled them all up
and called this taxi cab

it sped rapidly
between housing developments
and garden apartments,
but I didn't see the cab around me
just the view going by into the past

and all the buildings
could have been only mildly tweaked
versions of a place
I lived as a child, some slightly more
rococo, others with more stories

some, old tenements,
every tiny balcony crowded
with drying laundry,
others, nouveau middle class
with white facades and no laundry

the sidewalks between
buildings were all in deep shadow
leading me to think
someone could get mugged
there even in broad daylight

and now I've arrived
the taxi cab's stopped short in front
of the cleaners,
time to give my bundled linens
over to the care of experts

though I will do so
it's not without some concern
do I really trust
this blonde owner whose confidence
and alacrity are a bit off-putting

and (how I know this
I don't know) she's not fully
on the up-and-up
or maybe it's a matter of more
resemblances, like those buildings

an echo isn't the real thing, though it proclaims
across the abyss that something's on the other side,

one has not only to arrive but be there awhile
to find out what that future's truly about


[tanka series with a monoku and two two-liners on a dream of 6-29-15. Those buildings did actually "echo" where I lived in Forest Hills, New York City, from when I was 8 to 12 years old. The contrasts in those dream buildings also echo my memories and feelings about those years. However, this dream is ultimately more forward looking (for the most part) than all that might imply. Photomorph "Facade" (4-24-13 12606v7) 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.

THE HEART STIRS (photomorph) & EASY TO REGRET (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

EASY TO REGRET

he kisses her at last
why haven't they done this sooner
well, don't waste time,
she thinks, just enjoy this new
and surprising closeness

and then as quickly
as he'd appeared and planted
the warm soft kiss
on her welcoming lips,
he disappears again

with even less fuss
than a poof! might suggest
she's alone, missing him
and somehow she knows he's gone
that this was his sweet good bye

easy to pile on regrets, better to go on
staying open to the next moment's kiss

for at the far end of all that briefly connects nothing


[three tanka capped by a two-liner and a monoku on a dream of 6-28-15. Photomorph "The Heart Stirs" (4-24-13 12608ea) 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.

OUT OF SHADOW (photomorph) & A PANORAMIC HUNGER (dream narrative) by Roswila

A PANORAMIC HUNGER

a scene appears in vivid colors and inky shadows,
with the focus and contrasts incredibly crisp

it's simultaneously a lush lawn bordered by tall
trees that promise a depth of woods behind them,
and a panoramic still photo/ad of this scene
for a company's new film for cameras

several men wander around the lawn,
peering occasionally into the stand of trees,
as they walk in and out of the dark shadows
waxing and waning across the bright green lawn

they're led by a famous actor,
his glittery teal blue suit picture perfect,
another example of the sort of thing I find
hard to capture in my own photographs,
that with this new still film
would obviously be a snap

some part of me knows this is just a dream
even before I bring its vision of contrasts
with me into wakefulness, prompting a hunger
to have such a fine focus in my own work,

to clearly see where one thing ends
as another begins,

and to have no doubt about the shape in which
my efforts will ultimately appear
truly a dream


["poetically licensed" narrative written on a dream from 5-10-15, during my May blog break this year. Photomorph "Out of Shadow" (4-4-13 12426v2) 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.