LAST LIGHT BEFORE DARK (photo) & "dream of my neighbor..." (non-dream tanka pair) by Roswila

dream of my neighbor:
is this how she feels awake?
this upsetting lack
of clarity about most everything
even as she attempts to focus

where does a mind go
once it's gone from its home?
or is it still there,
washed so clean and shining there's
no way left to recognize it anymore


[tanka pair on a dream of 2-17-17. One of the things one witnesses in passing and lives with in friends in a retirement community is the slide (and occasional sudden fall) into dementia. Yesterday I kept running into the woman in this dream who's been going through this slide. This dream made me realize how much more of an impact this issue has been having on me personally. Beyond my (sometimes almost empathic) concern for anyone on the slide. My prayer for many years has been to retain my own mind to the end. But I now realize there's more this issue's been agitating in me. In part, it adds to the awareness I can't know how much time I have left. In this case, quality of time, not literal time. Photo "Last Light Before Dark" (1-30-17 010v2a) 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), 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.

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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.