THE FOOL (original Marker Tarot card design) & THE VERTICAL HORIZON (dream narrative) by Roswila

A VERTICAL HORIZON

how many times have I assembled this full-size
ersatz motorcycle? and I'm assembling it again?
is this an on-going Zen lesson, seeping up from
memories of the old book "Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance"*? it does appear more
like a book than an actual hog, a lot of its many
pieces and joints and pipes are rather page-like,
and this particular piece in my hands resembles
a black hard cover, folding down the middle
as if awaiting a book's paginated story ...

stranger yet, why am I doing all this repetitive
assembling on a cliff side, a vertical cliff edge
no less -- can you visualize that? one might jump
or ride off it even though it's not horizontal --
a cliff whose underlying reality is actually a road,
even though for the life of me I can't see how it can
be ridden down, even by this humongous, odd
origami-like motorcycle, provided, of course,
I can ever get it to stay fully assembled
long enough to mount and start it up ...

and worse yet, who's this stranger behind me,
this dark, stocky non-threatening man in a black
baseball cap to whom I hand something complicated
from the motorcycle parts that are right now only
partially assembled, as if I'm both proud of the work
I'm attempting, and want him to feel welcome to join
me in the ride I've not yet given up hope of taking
along this impossible and compelling
vertical horizon


[narrative on a dream of 8-24-17. I actually re-read * "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" maybe a year or so ago. It had shown up in a dream back then, too. My first read was back in the 1970's. BTW, I have some sexual associations to the imagery in this dream. And overall, it puts me in mind of The Fool card in The Tarot (Rider/Waite/Smith deck version):

Black and white image at top of post: The Fool card in Roswila's The Marker Tarot, a deck in the process of being designed.]

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.

* * * *

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.