HOLDING HANDS (photo) & THE HERMAPHRODITE (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

THE HERMAPHRODITE

the large, dark haired, person
approaches the edge of the circle

of all the people in this room tonight
I identify most with this androgyne

not finding the lack of clear gender
disturbing, as the others in the circle do,
I only wonder at how I can feel any
identity with someone so direct
and sure and peaceful (qualities I lack
in the extreme these days)

he/she continues to radiate calm
in the face of all these people circled subtly
but definitely against its entry into their midst,
and I'm deeply puzzled when I recall
that this hermaphrodite has done this before,
has braved exclusion and brought calm
and a certain much needed power
to the very center of things

my final thought as serenity settles over
the circle at its first step into the reluctant
ring of folk: maybe this androgyne
is so strong and open exactly because
rather than rejecting the opposites
that would tear it apart
it embraces them
with both its hearts


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-7-17. An hermaphrodite or androgyne is often a symbol of self-realization, a creative union of the psychological opposites. I have had other hermaphrodite/androgyne dreams, but not in a very long time. (I'm aware that an androgyne and a hermaphrodite are not identical things, if rather similar. However, this was a dream and what the figure was was very fluid. Clearly of neither gender and yet both at the same time. So I chose to represent that fluidity by using both terms in the poem.) This dream came as a direct answer to a desperate plea I made of my dream world as I went to sleep last night: Please give me help or guidance or comment on the horrendous emotional state I've been in for way too long. (Not totally unmitigated, but getting worse over all.) As to whether I am actually embracing my opposites? Don't think so. But the dream at least tells me that's what my struggle is about, at it's deepest level ... and not all the surface sturm und drang that I'm letting tear me apart. The realization that I felt a wee bit of identity with him/her? IMHO, a really good indication. Photo "Holding Hands" (3-14-10 10021ev2) 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.