FOOTING (photo) & "residue of dreams..." (dreamku) by Roswila

residue of dreams:
her soft step, his oniony sweat
my morning ablutions


[dreamku referencing vague dream impressions from the night of 10-2-15. It always makes me laugh when the description of and/or comments on a haiku or dreamku are much longer than the 'ku itself. Anyway, this is the first stand alone dreamku I've written in a very long time. And in that time I've written very few dreamku as part of longer poems. Just having this form surface again by itself, after all the years I spent developing and writing in it, brought back a lot of memories. Hm, memory is highly appropriate given the two actual people I found vague dream impressions of surfacing this morning. Photo "Footing" (5-25-09 1718ev3) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH (photomorph) & PLUMP PUMPKIN OR SASSY PEAR (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

PLUMP PUMPKIN OR SASSY PEAR

her costume's clearly
that of a plump pumpkin,
very cleverly
done with an orange poofy
body suit and stubby stem hat

but when I ask her
playfully what pumpkin patch
she's from she retorts
"I'm a pear!" very quickly
and fully serious

I restrain a laugh
and point to her orange hat's
pumpkin stem shape
to which she declares, "Yes, I'm
orange, which makes me a pear!"

then I realize
it's a matter of language
and not perception:
what we see being the same
but what we call it differing

and those words then creating pictures
in the other's mind we just don't see

as she waddles away I cannot shake
this question of plump pumpkin or sassy pear

it's hard enough to be sure we perceive the same
much less that we use the same words for it all


[tanka series with three two-liners on a dream of 10-1-15. Photomorph "In the Pumpkin Patch" (4-29-12 11819ev9) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

HER LAST NERVE (photomorph) & RELIEF IS JUST A SWALLOW AWAY (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

RELIEF IS JUST A SWALLOW AWAY

the big, sweet natured,
elderly man arrives in time
for dress rehearsal,
we think just to cheer us on
since his ankle's still hurting

for how could he dance when he's limping,
his wide smile pinching with each step

but I can! he says,
and obviously having read
our faces aright
he shows us a bottle and list:
a pain potion and its ingredients

as I skim the list
of totally unfamiliar herbs
he fills us in:
a dose lasts a single hour,
just long enough to rehearse,

and given how strong
it is he can only take
one dose per day
so he's saved today's for this
run through and the joy of dancing

we're all delighted
for him and for our group effort,
though I bear envy
that pricks at me: to have such
relief, if only for an hour


[tanka series with one two liner on a dream of 9-30-15. The wish here for pain relief is both literal (arthritic) and metaphorical (emotional). And in some natural (herbal as opposed to drug) fashion. Well, dream on, little girl! BTW, the title is from an old Alka-Seltzer commercial. It fizzed right up from memory as I started to draft this dream piece. Photomorph "Her Last Nerve" (5-18-11 11002v2) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

POROSITY (photomorph) & GETTING IT (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

GETTING IT

her humongous hat
offers us shelter where others'
chapeaux just expose
but I learn again too soon
there's no harbor to be found,

only the open sea -- turbulent or becalming --
between those who pair off against the world


[a tanka and two-liner on a dream of 9-29-15. Photomorph "Porosity" (5-18-11 11002f) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

TAPESTRY (photomorph) & ON THE BREATH OF A BREEZE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

ON THE BREATH OF A BREEZE

he hangs in the air
like a tapestry, no, more like
one of those potholders
that as children we wove on little
metal looms out of stretchy
crayon colored bands,
but huge, the size
and shape of a door

I'd have expected this snobbish,
artistic man to weave something
much classier, well, maybe not
of museum quality like
one of those Medieval
wall hangings in which the unicorn's
captive to the maiden

nor anything as risky as post-
modern or performance art,
but certainly more artful
than this loose cross-
hatching of guileless colors
dangling in the air

oddly enough, I can almost remember him
fondly now, if this is how he's decided
to present himself to me this time around

I step up to the door shape as it waves
gently on the breath of a breeze

should I knock?


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-27-15. Photomorph "Tapestry" (6-30-15 003v5 640x430) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

MOUNTAIN SUNDOWN (photomorph) & "fall shadows deepen ..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

fall shadows deepen
we speak in hushed tones as night's
umbrella opens


[non-dream haiku written 9-28-15. Photomorph "Mountain Sundown" (9-22-15 023v6) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

TOASTED! (photomorph) & "the buttery colored ..." (non-dream monoku) by Roswila

her buttery colored bikini toasted buns


[non-dream monoku written 7-30-15. Maybe posting a lighthearted 'ku will lighten my mood. Photomorph "Toasted!" (8-18-15 0047a) 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; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.