SO MANY CHOICES (photo) & AT THE CROSSROADS (dream narrative) by Roswila

AT THE CROSSROADS

Dream One:

the strangers hold up small signs
for where I can go, way up town
in dangerous neighborhoods,
the first on 153rd Street
and the other even further north

neither feels like a good choice
but I feel compelled to choose
between them, even as I wonder
why they haven't held up a sign
for that other choice I vaguely recall

a direction I might go in if I had
a better idea where it's at, but all I know
is that it lies behind me
to the south of this crossroads


Dream Two:

it's a crowded conference,
huge and noisy,
yet I manage to meet first one
then another police chief
and have conversations with each

I don't know which is more
surprising, that I find these
policemen personable (and ones
in high authority, no less)
or that we chat about things
outside the conference's theme

as I leave the conference via
a huge empty freight elevator
(a choice I make to begin to ease
my sense of overstimulation)
I begin entering each of their names
in my palm pilot

the second chief I'd met sees me
as I'm getting off the elevator
while I'm still tapping in his name,
Dominic,* and questions my doing so,
an edge of concern to his voice

I decide not to get defensive and simply
say it's so I can retrieve his name later,
if need be, as I am, after all, going on
73 years old and memory quirks abound


[dream narrative on dreams of 8-1-16 and 8-2-16, respectively. *Dominic = originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus," its translation means "Of Our Lord," "Lordly," or "Belonging to God." I did not know this until I googled just now, but I had suspected something similar based on the dream. There's also some significance to that number "153" which reduces to 9. And which I associate from it's setting in the dream to the nightmarish Nine of Swords in The Tarot. A card that, in its well-known traditional version, holds out hope in the roses on the blanket across the lap of the dreamer. Lastly, the night I had the second dream I'd gone on a food binge, about which I retrospectively see the first dream warning. And I hasten to add that I see a positive growing edge to these inter-related dreams. Photo "So Many Choices" (8-1-16 001v2c) 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.

CLEARING SKIES (photomorph) & "fly on by..." (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

fly on by, old crow,
and take my ancient sadness
right along with you
the sky's too clear today
to support such heaviness


[non-dream tanka written 7-25-16. Photomorph "Clearing Skies" (9-22-15 028v4a) 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.

EVER MORE BOXES (photo) & LITTLE BOXES (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

LITTLE BOXES

Dream One:

a massive fire's running wild, we're told,
just over the hill that rolls up and away
from the large field in our backyard

preparing to evacuate our dark wood cabin,
we each pack our most essential things
in an individual small square box

as I'm scrambling to find my last,
most needed thing
the order comes to evacuate

a brigade of fire fighters gallops down
the hill on horseback, just ahead
of the smoke from the fire that flashes
red on its furry underbelly,
like a rabid sunrise


Dream Two:

it's time for Oprah to leave us

as she packs the last of her most important
things in a small square box
she lifts her head and smiles
wryly at me:

"Yes, I'm aware I'm lonely, and I will
look at that later, after
I've completed this big move"


[free verse poem on two dreams of 8-3-16. Photo "Ever More Boxes" (2-16-16 005v2a) 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.

NO CHANGELINGS ALLOWED (photo) & THE CHANGELINGS (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE CHANGELINGS*

it's probably just as well I don't know
if or when I might sight you
and find myself high like this
on a rush of dopamine,**
or I'd plan my day around even
these brief sightings and their
resultant surges that heat me all over:
It's you! Yes!! It's you!
despite the let down, slow but inevitable,
as other brain chemicals reclaim
their channels, ultimately usurping
the dopamine rush with a melange
of loss and despair,
these all too familiar changelings


[non-dream free verse poem written 7-13-16. *A child, or sometimes dying fairy, believed to have been secretly substituted by the fairies for the parents' real child in infancy. **"...dopamine neurons [in the brain] become activated when something good happens unexpectedly." Also known colloquially as "that kick ass chemical in the brain that makes you feel and do happy things." Or more accurately put, we can be enticed (consciously and otherwise) into seeking its rush by doing things we've found may release it. Photo "No Changelings Allowed" (4-21-16 003v2a) 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.

EVENING'S BACKUP (photo) & BEAST WITH TWO BACKS (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BEAST WITH TWO BACKS*

not having what one wants?
well, just the flipside
of having it

another type of beast with two backs:
backed up to itself

but no matter how you stack 'em
one passionate animal

each side grasping fervently,
not toward the other,
but out into the world


[non-dream free verse poem written 7-24-16. *The beast with two backs is a euphemistic metaphor for two persons engaged in sexual intercourse facing each other and clinging as if a single creature, with their backs to the outside. Photo "Evening's Backup" (4-24-14 008v4a) 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.

LAYER CAKE (photo) & PRAYER TO BROKENNESS (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

PRAYER TO BROKENNESS

why does life persist in slipping back in
through these fine cracks
in my breaking heart,
an unexpected undertow

but rather than questioning, maybe
I'd do better to offer a prayer of gratitude
for this precipitating tsunami,

this collision of reality with a heart
set on what clearly cannot be had,

this earthquake crazing of old surfaces
and deep set patterns, through which
each new moment now courses in,
and shimmers, and warms,

to flow in turn, right back out again
into the world,

a thank you for this breaking open
that I didn't even know I needed


[non-dream free verse poem written 7-30-16. Photo "Layer Cake" (7-18-16 016v2) by Roswila; very similar to another shot posted here recently, but different enough to merit it's own name and posting, IMHO]

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.

MIDNIGHT SEMAPHORE (photo) & THERE YOU ARE (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

THERE YOU ARE

so, there you are
at a distance as always
and expecting me
not only to see but to comprehend
what you're communicating

I guess it's my fault
for asking my dreams for help,
for daring to want
clarification so that I can move
either toward or away from you

but all I get is
more layered semaphore
that I cannot read,
your hands waving in the air
like a conductor's sans orchestra

flooding me with the memory
of yet another sad old song

as I struggle to do my best to respond
to what I don't understand


[three tanka and two two-liners on a dream of 7-29-16. Photomorph "Midnight Semaphore" (12-8-15 010v9) 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.