UP IN FLAMES (photomorph) & ON BEING A GRINCH (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

ON BEING A GRINCH

The Gift:

the shapeless package
left at my doorstep wiggles
yikes! it's a kitten

clearly another
gift from that neighbor who still
doesn't get that she
needs to inquire what might be
appropriate to give to me

if she had, she'd know as cute as this little bugger is
I can't afford the food, the time, any possible illness

all that said I'm now left feeling I'll be a grinch
in her eyes, after all, who doesn't want a kitten?


The Option:

what a great office!
staffed entirely by women,
all of them writers
this is the best temporary job
I've had in all my years temping

and I hear it'll
be very long term as well,
they've even asked me
to become part of their book club,
which appears to be an honor

then I learn of the $50 cost per month
above and beyond the book's price

should I join for the sake of being "in" for once?
or accept the reality that the cost's too high?


The Finger:

there's a sere relief
in burning all these old photos,
even as a part
of me says I may regret
burning all these bridges

but the last batch, all artsy ones of hands,
just won't give over entirely to the flames,

one large, black and white middle finger
sticking up into the air, its message clear


[mixed format (a dreamku, and several tanka and two-liners) poem on dreams of 1-8-16. Photomorph "Up In Flames" (3-21-15 010v7a) 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 other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.