TAKING THE DIVE (photomorph) & THE LITTLE BLUE DOG (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE LITTLE BLUE DOG

the little blue dog pops up
behind me in dream after dream

I started to write "worries at my heels..."
but he's nothing if not relaxed and upbeat
with each of his pronouncements

like this latest one offered in a lisping
stage whisper:

"This is not a bungee jump you're
approaching," he says cheerfully
"no cord will play out and come
to your abrupt rescue"

as I prepare to take the leap anyway,
raising my arms like a diver on a board
but then spreading them wide as if
to embrace the risk, he continues:

"His arms are not a soft place
to fall, even should he open
them to you. Sometimes that's just
the way of it, collision or connection,
either will hurt"

I leap, thinking I'd rather risk it,
as what could hurt more
than these endlessly empty arms


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-2-16. It's quite something to have one's father offer advice in the form of a blue Jack Russell terrier. (My father's stage name was Jack Russell and his favorite color was blue.) Especially given there was a time before I healed my inner relationship to him (essentially forgiving him), when he was a scary dream visitor. I also see in this dream the little dog sometimes interpreted to be warning the fool on The Fool card of the Tarot that he's approaching a cliff's edge. Actually, I could go on at great length about The Fool card and its less obvious relevance to this dream. But won't. I'm mostly just so tickled to have had this intriguing visit from Dad that even the central, shall I say "romantic" aspect is almost eclipsed. Note I say "almost." (Wry smile) Photomorph "Taking the Dive" (5-18-11 11002x) 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.

THE ONLY WAY OUT IS THROUGH (photo) by Roswila

No poem for today, no time to work on any still sitting on the back burner and I don't feel like doing a re-post of something. So here's a brand new photo of mine (9-2-16 022v2) whose title says what's on my mind this morning. What was on my mind as I took the pic yesterday. But beyond that I just love the patterns fern branches produce, in whatever stage of their lives. BTW, that gate in the background is the front entrance to the retirement community I live in. Photo by Roswila.

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, if a photo is accompanying a poem (as it almost always does) it's not necessarily meant to illustrate the poem. 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.

EMERGENT SHADOWS (photo) & THE CAUL (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE CAUL

caw-caw-caw they fly by
one after the other
shadows on the wing
and for that brief time
I'm free of your hot shadow

that clinging caul I barely
breathe through each time
it embraces me again
portending a delivery
that never comes


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-1-16. Photo "Emergent Shadows" (7-16-16 009v3a) 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.

SEEDS FROM THE SUN (photo) & PAPER MONEY (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

PAPER MONEY

so, a rat-roach in a recent dream
that I regretted vanquishing
before learning what it was
and where it came from

and now I'm trusting a man
I really don't like to lead
me where I apparently
need to go ...

we walk side by side
down the city street,
any misgivings about him
I have (and they're many)
tucked neatly and safely
away like paper money
in a bill fold

and now's not the time
to pay it out, is it?
if I need spend it at all

not on this sunny afternoon
when for once my yammering
doubts about him are as
quiet as the surface of a pool
on a windless day

there's something, nay, a lot
to be said for just walking
in the same direction,
elbows brushing,
navigating the crowds

do we need to trust the sun
to appreciate its presence


[free verse poem on a dream of 8-30-16. Photo "Seeds from the Sun" (3-24-16 015v2d) 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.

STEPPING UP (photo) & ON TAKING A SHOT (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

ON TAKING A SHOT

why does the human brain once taught
to seek lines that align, then clings
to what is only a useful guideline
as an absolute

here I am on a perfect day, looking out
over the sea, my view of its persistent gentle
heaving framed at its bottom edge by a fence,
albeit a not very interesting one, yet what
actually keeps me from taking out my camera?
that the fence dips down to the left,
is out of true with the (deceptively) straight
horizon, and I can't find any way
to embrace this lack of parallelism
in the shots I frame in my mind ...

excuse me, but I'm about to put down this pen
and take some shots anyway, life's too damn short
(especially at half way to 73 years old) to get
my panties all in a bunch (and I can simply
step out of them anyway) about taking
a risky shot, instead of ...
just ... going ... for it


[non-dream free verse poem written 8-29-16. Not sure this poem is ready for posting. But what little dream recall I have from last night doesn't entice me to write about it. And I don't feel like re-posting some old poem. So, here 'tis ... a poem that may not actually be fussed into shape yet. I hasten to add that no poem (or photo) ever feels absolutely finished. I just reach a point at which I feel prepared to let it go out into the world. In the case of this poem, I haven't reached that point. Mother's not certain her child is ready to stand on its own yet. :-) Photo "Stepping Up" (8-16-17 007v2) 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.

LOVE KNOT (photo) & AND THOUGH WE NEVER MEET (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

AND THOUGH WE NEVER MEET

We have not met
And yet some part of me
Has held your shape:
An empty doorway fills
With your familiar posture
Limned with light only
To dissolve into a stranger

I have never heard your voice
And still a laughter lifts
With promise, but leaves
A passing sadness
That it is not yours

We have not touched
Yet my soul will leap to meet
The suddenness of hope
Held out in a hand
Whose touch reveals
It is not you

I do not fault the ones
Who are not you,
For each has given me
A taste of your sweet absence

And though we never meet
Some part of me has held,
And holding true,
Will love you even then


[re-posting of a non-dream free verse poem written 1984. Photo "Love Knot" (7-18-16 010v2) 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.

THE LOOM (photo) & THE ROACH-RAT (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

THE ROACH-RAT

what's this oddness I sense,
and what's that tugging at the end
of the stick I use
to poke around the flokati*
rug on the bathroom floor
yikes! I've caught a rat!
no, a rather huge, sort of roach-rat,
on the stick's far end
I don't even want this much connection
to it, though I curb the urge to shake it off
"Shake it off," I think,
"And it'll be loose again to run wild
and wind up who knows
where in my home ... eeewww!" ...
what to do ... I grab the roach spray,
and drench it totally ...
when it scurries away dripping with
and reeking of poison
I proceed to wet the entire white carpet
with the spray, emptying the can,
so if the roach-rat
somehow survives its own soaking it
will be repelled by the sprayed rug
a wee bit calmer, I finally take the time to wonder
just what it was, what manner of creature,
and where it came from, my curiosity
arriving too late to the rescue


[mixed format poem on a dream of 8-27-16. *Flokati: Greek woven woolen rug with a thick loose pile. This poem started as a tanka series but wound up free verse near the end. (I took out the line breaks between the tankas once the end appeared in free verse form.) Photo "The Loom" (7-18-16 014v2) 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.