NIGHT HUNGERS (photo) & AGING'S MAGIC (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

AGING'S MAGIC

my current best friend
laughs with me as I hear of
Unca* bike riding:
90+ and shrunk small enough
to easily pedal a child's tricycle!

my laughter's peppered
with more than a bit of awe
at aging's magic:
even my always acerbic,
alcoholic uncle's been mellowed

returned to a time that perhaps never even
graced his hard life: the freedom to wander

and under his own steam, not at the beck and call
of that sense of duty laid down before he had a choice

duty that secretly soured him young and that he wielded
unknowingly like a bludgeon in his attitudes

my friend asks if the plans I'd made to visit him
back a while ago are still in the works

I say, no, it's no longer necessary now,
old age has done what no conversation could:

brought the playful child to the fore
of the endlessly bitter man,

opening a way for him to love,
and, just as important, to be loved


[mixed format poem on a dream of 5-9-16. *Unca = the nickname I'd had for the actual (now deceased) Uncle in this dream, before we became estranged. This is one of those dreams that just doesn't stop unfolding for me in different ways. Layer after layer. Most impactful, what it says to that part of me that has long recognized the similarity of my struggle to his. And the hope it offers. Photo "Night Hungers" (4-21-16 022v3e) 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 other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.