PREMONITION (photo) & WINDOW PANES (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

WINDOW PANES

so many ghosts pressing from behind
one glass window onto the world,
lost in an endless morphing maze
of windows, each window rubbing sill
and frame against the others, nothing
holding the labyrinth together at any
point in time but the pressure of profusion,
while each window's unique infinity of ghosts
mills about moaning fraudulent intuitions
and predictions, agitating for entrance
into the world again, knocking and knocking
like a chill wind on the fragile pane


[non-dream free verse poem "finished" 2-27-16. I put the word finished in quotes as a poem is never really finished (IMHO). As I've said here many times, I'm sure, I can read a many year's old poem and see something that needs changing. So when I decide a poem (or any writing) of mine is complete that simply means I've reached a stopping point, beyond which I'm not willing to wait and see if I might need to go. It's almost as if I run out of gas. BTW, I'm still sometimes surprised at how much more time and effort has to go into almost any of my non-dream free verse poems, than any style dream poem I write. I've been at this poem for instance for a few days, in lengthy sessions both at the computer and at my lap desk with pen to paper. Yet I almost always draft, edit, and post a dream-based piece the morning after a dream. My dreaming brain has already done the deep story line work, provided the images, and all my waking mind then has to do is organize and respond to it. But with a non-dream poem there's a struggle to get at what that story wants to be, and then how to say it (i.e., what are the best images to carry the story and in what format), involving a great deal more trial and error writing. Photo "Premonition" (1-23-16 001v5) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

ON THE 'NET (photomorph) & IT'S AN OLD, OLD SONG (a dream) by Roswila

IT'S AN OLD, OLD SONG

at least for once it's clear right away what he
wants of me (it never was back in the years
of our odd and awkward friendship)

however, once I find the lyrics to that old
1960's Shirelle's song he'd lost on the computer,
he reverts to type and I have to keep guessing
'til I hit on what he really wants: for me
to figure out how to print out copies

it's quite a challenge as the computer's not one
with which I'm at all familiar, as different
from mine as an apple (pun noted) from an orange

so I have only the old "hunt and peck,"
seasoned with a bit of intuition, to go by,
while my cheeks flush as I begin to fear
I'm not only losing face but letting him down

but the mix of accident and intuition pays off just
as I wonder if I'm beaten, and the words to the song
print out, the last line in bolded elephant font,
and centered on the stark white page:

"Will you still love me tomorrow?" *


[written on a dream of 2-25-16. * The title and last line of the song I kept singing, bit by bit, during this dream (click on it for a video of it being sung by the Shirelles). BTW, the "he" in this dream was quite a mash-up of people (men and women) in my present life (determined by strong associations). Which speaks very clearly to repeated behavior on my part, based in ancient stuff going back even beyond my own life into the lives of my parents, and further. And need I even say it? Rooted in abandonment issues. I'm about two-thirds of the way through a new book ("Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives," by James Hollis) that has certainly effected this dream. Also, I just mailed in my DNA sample yesterday for analysis, and have very recently begun doing ancestor searches online. So the idea of hauntings and ghosts and the past not being past has been even more present (if you will) for me than is my usual wont. Photomorph "On the 'Net" (1-23-16 8522v2) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

IT'S A CRIME (photomorph) & WORRIED (a dream) by Roswila

WORRIED

she whispers she's worried about her man, that he's
about to do something wrong, something very wrong,
then, slipping out of her tight lips, one after
another, possible scenarios for his transgression

two young policemen she's reporting to listen patiently
and though reluctant witnesses to her before-the-fact
narration they hear out her anxious over thinking

their full attention doesn't waver, even as she switches
to describing a way to explain, even justify, each
of the criminal scenarios she's expressed

when she stops to breathe, one cop very gently interjects,
obviously concerned for her well being, that it might
be best if she quit talking about this altogether

for if even a similar version of one of her over wrought
worries does go down, she could very well be charged
as a co-conspirator, "a crime designer"*

the dream's observer "I"** leans in even closer,
for something's extremely familiar here

and it's not only the woman's clearly deeply entangled,
co-dependent relationship with her man ...

ah, yes, the dream serves up the old message:
"What's held in the mind, will ultimately manifest"***


[written on a dream of 2-22-16. * "a crime designer" is directly from the dream. ** "Observer I" is a term I use to indicate a particular sort of presence I sometimes have in a dream. Not embodied in any person/object, just a definite sense of myself watching and reacting, but having no input to the action. *** This last line is basically the principle behind affirmations. Or put another way, describes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not gone into in the dream or in what I've written about it (though vaguely touched on in the term co-dependent), is that this sort of thinking can also be contagious. Photomorph "It's A Crime" (12-8-15 002v3l) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

STORM RIDER (photomorph) & THE BRIEF RETREAT (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE BRIEF RETREAT

sigh, she can't ride down the dawn,
the beautiful dark horse
who's been her choice, is ill,
some sort of inflammation

between worrying about the fine-limbed
animal and her disappointment in not
going for her usual sunrise amble
on its sleek warm back,
her brief one week vacation
in this woodland retreat center
feels shortened by a mile

but her accustomed mount recovers
almost instantaneously, and she watches it lope
away, up the steep grassy hillside sans any rider

it stops at the top of the hill,
the sun shimmering on its well-brushed coat
as it lifts and tosses its unbridled head,
the wind playing with its mane and tail

sketches she'd made of horses as a child
and an old horse story she'd dearly loved
flood her memory, her heart rising
to the day bearing a mix of memory
and sweetly sad yearning

she's been taken for quite a ride


[free verse poem on a dream of 2-23-16. Photomorph "Storm Rider" (4-15-14 0014a) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

AT THE HEART OF THE WOOD (photomorph) & HIL & BILL (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

HIL & BILL

what a big smile, Hil!
and why are you here, and in
such a friendly mood?
hm, leaving so soon? Bill just
came in through the side door...

OK, bye Hilary ...
Bill! I'd hoped to see you
it's been way too long
I'm not hinting but I've been
recalling our trysts fondly

...oh, yes, let's go to that cabin in the wood
for one last delightful fling between the sheets

...well, it's certainly good to hear that Hil
accepts our relationship without a qualm

knowing that muzzles my buried Catholic conscience
and stops its chain rattling, if only for a while


[three tanka and three two-liners on a dream of 2-21-16. I dream every so often about President Clinton. Sometimes we're just friends and in others there's a romantic element. I've only had two other dreams about Hilary Clinton and neither included her husband in any way. (One during her earlier campaign for the presidency, the other when she was Secretary of State.) I should mention that this dream actually went on to be a fun X-rated one, which is new for my Bill Clinton dreams. Also, I was raised Catholic, but it never fully "took," at least consciously. (No subsequent religion has either, so I consider myself generically spiritual.) However, once I grew up I began to recognize the ravages in my life of that early, deeply imprinted Catholic conscience. Photomorph "At the Heart of the Wood" (1-23-16 oldpicv6) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

DANCE FOR SUNRISE (photomorph) & BIRDS ON A WIRE (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BIRDS ON A WIRE

an eye on one bird blinks and a hill years
away transmutes into a blue bell of sky

another dips its beak and the disguise
of rocks dissolves, the void within

as vast as those between stars
and brimming with all potential

this orange sun would not
have risen without their songs

without their small feet holding
the tension of the wire, without

their soft shadows weaving webs
of grace from each note's fall


[non-dream poem written 1994, rev. 2000 (posted 2-22-16). This was previously posted in 2006. As mentioned in recent comments to a new poem, I've been feeling a stronger then ever urge to bring the music in words back to my writing. Such as I hear in this one. BTW, I removed the periods and capitalization today. They distracted me; too many years since it was first written and revised in which I've been using them extremely sparingly. Of course, for all I know (since I'm not -- blush -- up on what's current in poetry style) caps and periods might be de rigueur again. I also changed some line breaks and made it entirely into two-line stanzas. However, it's been worded exactly this way for at least the past 10 years. I just don't seem to be able to settle on the way these words are shaped on the page. Photomorph "Dance for Sunrise" (12-8-15 002v4) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

WINTER BEACH (photo) & GRASPING AFTER (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

GRASPING AFTER

so, she wonders, just what's this pattern she's trying to make,
dribbling sand into a bottle? ah, yes, that's it! army fatigue,
all this mottled olive green among shadowy amorphous shapes,
and what an appropriate name for the repeating pattern
she's ever so slowly building, layer by layer, despite collapse
after collapse, up the insides of the curved glass walls:
it's very much fatigued she is of this war, this battling
in a bottle if you will, and now she sees the use of tears
as they fall heavily onto her sandy fingers, for it all
clings together now, each grain of life's pain or loss or failure,
each small meanness, useless effort and ephemeral success,
for once sticks in its place on first try revealing the next
thin layer of the emerging pattern, one can only hope all
won't simply dry up under the morning sun and blow away,
beyond her exhausted grasping after


[written on a dream of 2-20-16. Photo "Winter Beach" (2-16-16 7452v3) 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL

; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.