ISLAND IN THE SUN (photomorph) & ONE DAY (dream narrative) by Roswila

ONE DAY

hoping I'll find the young boy I've lost
I return to a small white wood store
that opens on to the boardwalk
of this little island's only town

before I can enjoy browsing its shelves
of always intriguing arts and crafts
a dark woman approaches
greeting me cheerily: "Oh, you're
here for your eye class!"

why she'd think this I haven't a clue
as I don't recall signing up for vision lessons
and can't find my Palm Pilot to check,
but this effusive, friendly lady
is nice enough and we eventually
leave the store together, only to wind up
getting lost even in a town this small

to top it off, I suddenly realize
I've lost my purse somewhere, but before
I can start to will it back into being
as I've done many times in the past,
my dark new friend prostitutes herself
to an island man for the cash we both need

she does this willingly, with no shame,
no blame, while I, in the meantime,
deal with an arrogant man who,
assuming I'm his sex toy for hire,
complains about my large body size,
I tell him off with no hesitation, surprised
to be so unabashedly assertive

then I'm alone on the sun-bleached boardwalk,
wending my slow way through passels
of day trippers, and note that I still don't have
my purse, so stop to grip my shoulder
and firmly will its strap back
into being there

the strap returns beneath my fingers,
narrower and lighter weight
than it was before, but it'll do

I reach down to the body of the purse
and find it's not long or deep enough
and I apply an additional push
of intense will until the purse's size
and heft at least somewhat
resemble the remembered

I then continue my suddenly recalled
and still futile search for the tiny satellite
store of the big health food chain
I've shopped in here once before

sigh ... it seems to be my day to get lost
and lose things, however, the day's sunny,
and delightfully warm for winter,
and the tourists are unusually laid back

what more pleasant place and time
could there be to go through
all this unwilled loosening of attachments


[narrative on a dream of 12-30-15. Photomorph "Island in the Sun" (12-3-15 007v5j) 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.

SPINNING STRAW INTO GOLD (photomorph) & LAST DANCE OF THE YEAR (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

LAST DANCE OF THE YEAR

two stately fan palms
stand alone in the sky, bobbing
in sync with each other
the midday sunshine glittering brightly
in their bowing fronds like Christmas tinsel


[non-dream, (kinda, sorta) tanka, written 12-31-15 (posted 1-1-16). "Kinda, sorta"? Because the syllable count in all but the first line goes over the traditional ones (i.e., 5-7-5-7-7) for the lines. I also don't know if the need for that comma would be acceptable to many tanka writers. I.e., they'd probably want to rewrite the tanka so that it's unnecessary, but I like it as is. BTW, I have a lengthy narrative in the works on a 12-30-15 dream. But felt this tanka was more appropriate to the first day of the new year. Photomorph "Spinning Straw Into Gold" (12-8-15 1689ev13) 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.

NIGHT STRUTS (photo) & BUILDING (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BUILDING

first just an empty
basement hole, a question
in the ground, nothing visible
yet to the naked eye

then pulse pounding as dark
columns rise, rooted
in the emptiness, an eerie
affront to the watcher,
black against the distant foothills
and pale blue sky,
a skeleton that will support
an expansive space
for other pursuits

yes, always this necessary darkness
beneath, its feet in the unknown


[non-dream free verse poem written 12-31-15. (HAPPY NEW YEAR!) Photo "Night Struts" (12-8-15 022v3) 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.

WINTER GARDEN (photomorph) & KILLER SHOES (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

KILLER SHOES

he shows me a small white box
saying "Here's that collection of mine
that I told you about of a pair of shoes
worn by each of the murderers
in the past several years in this city"

not surprisingly, it's in a shoe box,
but the number of pairs stashed
in it, one on top of the other,
appears impossibly endless

as endless as their variety of styles,
colors, and sizes that boggle
my mind as he lifts each pair out
in turn to show me the pair beneath

many are slippers as if the killers
attacked at night under a compulsion
so sudden there'd been no stopping
to change into street shoes

he comes to a patchwork pair,
its colors bleeding into each other
(too much helter skelter running
away through puddles, I think)

he pauses over them mumbling
"And here's the only second pair
I have for a murderer, yes,
the one who wore them killed twice
and is still on the loose, as all
the shoe wearers are, albeit barefoot
now in this rainy frigid winter"

he stacks his odd collection back
in the seemingly bottomless shoe box
and puts the lid on, as I note
the neatly hand printed label:
KILLER SHOES

(these are not the murderers, I think,
making the sad joke to myself,
and go on to wonder silently why
he's so proud of hoarding these empty
reminders of killings from which
the perpetrators simply walked away)

[free verse poem on a dream of 12-29-15. There's much more to this dream than a prodromal message. But that message from my body is there: I wore shoes yesterday that I usually find uncomfortable. Though they weren't consciously painful, I did wake up this morning with awful pain in my arthritic left ankle and right knee. Killer shoes, indeed! (smile) Photomorph "Winter Garden" (7-6-09 33763v5) 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.

A SPIN OF FORTUNE (photomorph) & AT THE CARNIVAL (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

AT THE CARNIVAL

two doors opening at the same time
yards away from you onto who-knows-what,
the only thing that's clear: you must
use one to get anywhere at all

and somehow you sense neither door's wrong
or even better but just quite different,
each opening onto a path that meets a compelling
need of yours that's distinct from the other

there's no way or time to make a reasoned choice
you step forward and let momentum pick your course


[free verse poem on a dream of 12-28-15 (heavily edited & re-posted on 12-30-15, after posting in the earlier form on 12-29-15). Photomorph "A Spin of Fortune" (6-6-09 1910v3) 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.

SNUGGLING (photomorph) & WITHOUT (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

WITHOUT

... what was that dream?
distracted by a rush of chilly air
as I rise, I inadvertently
leave it wrapped
in the bed covers,
may it be comfortable
there, I think, as I become caught up
by the strands of a stray thought,
and make copious notes on how best
to lead a variety show audience
in writing a group poem,
no longer even noticing
the cold air

oh ho! I haven't thought about group poetry
in a couple of years, so it's a good guess
that the dream now snuggled warmly away
has something to do with this sudden re-interest

I'll bet it's wearing a little smile on its sleeping face
having done it's job without the toil of becoming conscious


[free verse poem inspired by a lost dream of 12-27-15. Photomorph "Snuggling" (12264v2b1) 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.

TICKLED PINK! (photomorph) & NEW DANCE TO OLD MUSIC (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

NEW DANCE TO OLD MUSIC

the new dance style in this futuristic dream
requires three people, not two as in ages past

I adjust quickly and even find it fun,
the odd number creating a spontaneous edge

but as quickly as I fit in a fourth joins us,
Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise*

I'm so happy to see him, and whisper into his ear,
it's been way too long since we've hooked arms

things shift rapidly, I find myself responsible
for helping a woman change the music floppies**

no one actually tells me to do so, it just falls
to me as no one else is and she's totally befuddled

having little tech leaning myself it's a bit like
the blind leading the blind as I feel my way through

I turn the machine around and find a mass of cryptic
labels in the plastic inviting my best guess pushing

... and out comes "Jingle Bell Rock," I dance to it
delightedly, wearing only my light blue nightgown

I'm exposed again, but this time it's quite OK,
not because I know I'm dreaming, but since for once
I feel good about myself in such a social happening


[free verse poem on a dream of 12-26-15. *He was as much this character, as the actor who played it, Patrick Stewart. I'm a Star Trek fan from the classic days of that old T.V. show, through it's several spin offs. **Remember those old computer floppy disks? That's pretty much what the music was on. It's the mix of old and new that I find most intriguing in this dream. (The Star Trek reference incorporating both: an old show about the future.) And, yes, this dream was vaguely lucid -- knowing one is dreaming while one is dreaming -- the lucidity sort of washing in and out. Here's the lyrics to that old Christmas song, "Jingle Bell Rock," which I woke up singing. Photomorph "Tickled Pink!" (12-8-15 009v7a) 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.