SUNSET OVER WATER (photomorph) & OPEN YOUR EYES (dream narrative) by Roswila

OPEN YOUR EYES

I'm a youthful, bumbling guy,
in a large group touring a foreign country

sherpas lead us up an extremely long
sloping and narrow, white paved road

at the end of which we climb an almost
vertical mountain, that's smooth sided, and more
like a human construction than natural

next thing I know, I've been pushed
off the incredibly high mountain's peak
with all of the tourists, each of us
in our own box, shaped like a coffin
and made of glass

a voice from nowhere whispers "Open your eyes,
the boxes are glass so that you'll enjoy
the breath-taking view"

the whisperer goes on to explain
tourists are always put in these boxes to make
the return trip, as none ever have
the energy and strength left
to hike back down the way they came

and without it being said, I somehow know
that all our landings will be safe

it's then that I open my eyes:

as I continue falling slowly the day's last
light refracts on the surface of a huge
placid lake below in rainbows of welcome


[narrative on a dream of 10-15-15. Hm, life and death, maybe? If so, a reassuring story my dreaming mind made up about the journey. Photomorph "Sunset Over Water" (10-7-15 003v3c2) 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.

THE MASH UP (photo) & NEVER MIND (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

NEVER MIND

aw! give me a break
I fought to separate from
each of you long ago
but here you both are in a dream
and mashed up in one person

guess my dreaming mind
didn't trust that I'd notice all
your shared qualities,
that I'd not otherwise see
the trouble they signal

as if being so
charmingly bossed around
and smilingly dissed
wouldn't have given me a clue,
wouldn't have turned me right off

sigh...never mind...even as my back goes up
I find myself scurrying to meet your demands


[tanka series capped by a two-liner on a dream of 10-14-15. Photo "The Mash Up" (6-15-09 2435v4) 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.

THUNDERSTORM (photomorph) & THE SENTIENT TREES (dream haibun) by Roswila

THE SENTIENT TREES

The long violet and pale green branches of the sentient trees toss. I tell my friend this is my favorite time of day. When their branches flicker like stripper's boas in the sky, turning into lightning fast whippers.

dominating
the darkling sky
armed trees


[haibun dreamed/written 3-16-06, and slightly tweaked 10-15-15. I'm choosing to re-post this very old dream haibun (prose capped by a haiku) because of the thunder storm we had here last night. The first lightning strike of the storm (some time before 6:00 p.m.) scared the behoositz out of me, the light and the sound hitting simultaneously. It was louder and closer than any of us I spoke with afterward have ever experienced. I found out this morning it hit a pole only three blocks from here, blowing out a transformer. Which of course is why we lost all electric power as it hit -- just as I was taking laundry out of a dryer in our ground floor laundry room. What an adventure after that for me, getting those three loads of laundry up to my second floor rooms with my walker and a heavy package I'd just gotten. A friend (blessings!) carried it all up in a series of climbs. While I managed to sloooowly haul my arthritic self up the once. Before that friend came along (as I was pondering sleeping with all my stuff in our ground floor lounge overnight should the power not come back on) I was heartened to see emergency responders coming to aid a resident who has an electric powered medical device. Then once home I had a relaxing and unusual couple of hours listening to music on a battery powered radio, and reading by a battery powered lamp. The electric was back on by about 8:30 pm. BTW, the storm gave our drought ridden area a good, brief drenching. Was this storm a foreshadowing of the much ballyhooed El Niño storms that are being predicted for this winter? Photomorph "Thunderstorm" (10-7-15 003v3y) 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.

AGAINST THE WALL (photo) & OFF HER BACK (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

OFF HER BACK

reduced only to my eyes and ears
still I'm aware of all that passes,
if from a dark distance:

the news spreads quickly that her closest
friends have succeeded in killing the man
who'd lived on her wide back for so long

yet not one person thinks to ask how
she's feeling after such an abrupt
separation, but instead all go right
to planning the man's funeral, quickly
getting hung up on what religion
he observed, if any

one large middle aged woman chimes in
with a red herring that the high leader
of a man's church always determines
who he's seen to be, not anyone else,
not even the person himself

I start to get upset at this further evidence
of how we manipulate one another,
then think "No matter!" as now not even I
am paying attention to the suddenly
cleaved woman

and she looks so naked, so utterly exposed
without her other half, her back unprotected
sans the defining mold of his hovering cover

she needs support and right away, after all,
things can change precipitously
when a host loses its parasite


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-12-15. I suppose this isn't technically a poem, but a narrative. Yet -- and, yes, I've addressed this here many times before -- that dream image itself is a metaphor. I.e., in the dream the man had been physically living on her back. That's not a metaphor I wrote into the dream as I worked on it. Not only that but I developed that image's description and fall out based on recognizing it was a concrete representation of the expression "Get off my back!" Also, I did write that metaphor in the last line into the dream scenario. So, I dub thee a (prosey) poem! Photo "Against the Wall" (5-7-15 10238e2) 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.

MORNING WALK (photomorph) & "three choices of path..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

three choices of path
to savor the walk home
I take the longest


[non-dream haiku written 10-12-15. Yes, this can be read two ways. But in either way the savoring remains, so I'll leave it as first written (i.e., sans a defining comma). BTW, ambiguity is not uncommon in monoku (one line haiku). Photomorph "Morning Walk" (8-2-10 10018e) 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.

SUNSET REFLECTIONS (photomorph) & ON LEANING (dream tanka trio) by Roswila

ON LEANING

a Buddhist saying
has it one should "lean into
the sharp points"
but how do I put my shoulder
to that puddle or this shadow

the former's edges as
obvious as a razor's but
moving in the wind,
and the latter's spear-head form
already subtly morphing

maybe that's the point
(if you'll pardon that pun),
lean into what's sharp
as it disappears into
the next moment's shape


[three tanka on a dream of 10-11-15. The expression in quotes was not in the dream, but I did happen to read it just before getting ready for bed last night. So it's not surprising I recalled it as I began drafting this piece this morning. Of course, once I finished the poem I remembered another Zen saying (one I've had on my wall for a couple years): "The most dangerous thing in the world is to think you understand something." LOL! That's quite a "P.S." to this dream poem. Actually, to any of my poems, dream based or otherwise. Photomorph "Sunset Reflections" (3-2-14 001v6e) 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.

RED-TAILED HAWK (photomorph) & THE DIS (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

THE DIS

the phone salesman calls
my friend a "reservation hawk"
at first I figure
it's a mistaken appellation
having to do with restaurants

then I realize
it's a slam based in my good
friend's ethnicity:
he's American Indian
and an excellent lawyer

slam, you might say? yes, like that hoary
dis for lawyers: "ambulance chasers"

my friend confirms my translation of "reservation hawk"
but seems undisturbed by it as he hangs up the phone

in fact, the term sits
rather well on his shoulders
hawks have keen vision,
seeing from great distances
what's worth the effort to pursue


[mix of tanka and two-liners on a dream of 10-10-15. Photomorph "Red-Tailed Hawk" (10-7-15 003v3x) 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.