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.

* * * *

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.

UNDER A DARK SUN (photomorph) & BAD BOYS (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BAD BOYS

what's this bad boy attraction about,
this gravitation toward the man of whom
it's said "Honey, he's bad news!"

well, sister, it might not be about the man
at all but the woman's need to embrace
her own dark self by taking the bad boy on:
to know and celebrate her shadow self fully,
in all its woundedness and restless charm,
its rebellion and its moments of burning light

to sprawl beneath that which she's been warned
never even to approach: the dark sun
that she somehow senses will make
her equation balance out at last


[non-dream free verse poem written 1-28-17. Photomorph "Under a Dark Sun" (2-13-17 021v2d) 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.

* * * *

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.

OUT OF THE DEPTHS (photomorph) & BLUE NOTE (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BLUE NOTE

if one's life were a song, and if
that song had a key note, mine
would be the blue note
in a song of diminished chords

the same shivering blue the ocean
was forever imprinted by the day
my life was turned roughly aside
from adolescence to a premature
and fearful womanhood

that color I can never seem
to replicate, try as I might,
when I'm fussing
at my photos of the sea

Freud was said to have puzzled
over this compulsion to repeat,
that rises, then ebbs, then rises
again no matter how unwelcome

like this repeated key note of blue
in my song of diminishments

thank the high heavens
and all of its deities
that the sea's so much more
than any single color
and a song than any
one note


[non-dream free verse poem of 2-14-17. Photomorph "Out of the Depths" (2-13-17 008v2a) 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.

* * * *

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.

ABACUS OF DEW (photo) & "rain drops or dew..." (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

rain drops or dew,
no matter, everything sparkles
in the morning light
the long backs of grass blades
bowing under wet blessings


[non-dream tanka written 2-8-17. Photo "Abacus of Dew" (2-13-17 002v2) 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.

* * * *

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.

"Water, Water Everywhere..." (photo) & "elevator sign ..." (non-dream senryu) by Roswila

elevator sign:
water off today from one to two
I'm suddenly thirsty


[non-dream senryu written 2-8-17. As I'm sure I've said here before, senryu are very similar to haiku. The primary difference often being the lack of a word that indicates the season of the scene. But even that is often no way to distinguish senryu from haiku, as modern haiku writers often dispense with a season word (as I mostly do). Senryu also tend to be about the human condition, as opposed to nature. And again, this distinction is not always there between these two very similar forms. I'd say the single thing that most often prompts me to label one of mine a senryu is humor. Though haiku can also be humorous. Ultimately, it's frequently a toss up for me whether it's a senryu or haiku. I will hasten to add, there are writers and aficionados of both forms who would heartily disagree with me in what I've said here. As there are many schools of thought on both of these forms. Photo "Water, Water, Everywhere..." (2-13-17 009v2) by Roswila. And

♥♥ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ♥♥]

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.

FEATHERING THE NIGHT (photomorph) & "his bright red hat..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

his bright red hat
with a feather in it: finery
lighting up the fog


[non-dream haiku written 2-8-17. Photomorph "Feathering the Night" (5-24-15 055v3a) 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.

* * * *

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.