MISPRINT (photomorph) & ON PLAYING A ROLE (prose poem on a dream) by Roswila

ON PLAYING A ROLE

I'm suddenly concerned that the new printer
someone gave us for the office might
have been stolen while I was off
performing a role in a play

yeah, it wasn't my responsibility only, but
I am the resident of that office and I'm
the one who uses the printer the most

when I arrive at the office two other
co-workers are sitting there; neither
seems to notice the empty corner
where the printer had been

I knew it! I think; it was just like leaving
a sign on it: I'm compact, barely
used, and free for the taking

I quickly check the closet, hoping an office
mate had seen it was unattended and put
it safely away, but of course
it's not there either

my two co-workers don't seem at all upset
even once I ask them outright if they've
seen the shiny new black printer

they assume whatever problem comes up
that someone else will take care of it:
a life attitude I'd never had the guts
to spout, much less believe

and just what was so important to me
about the role in that play anyway?
... another gift stolen away


[prose poem on a dream of 8-7-17. I won't go into it here, but a computer printer -- especially one that's a gift -- is a loaded image for me at this point in my life. Having everything to do with what the psychologist Alice Miller's THE DRAMA OF THE GIFTED CHILD suggests (which book I'm re-reading now for at the least the third time in a few decades). Link to wikipedia info on Alice Miller: just scroll down to the section on the book. It's the only description I found online that I liked at all. Her theory just above the section on the book, about "the roots of violence" is worth a read, too. (There's an odd dearth of good writing about this book online. And most of what there was was so shallow I couldn't believe we'd read the same book.) I don't recall what tipped me off it was time to read her book again. But it's making a certain sort of deeper sense out of the agony I've been going through for at least a year now, and so much more. Photomorph "Misprint" (6-4-17 038v3c) 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.