I.V. MURAL March 2017 (photo) & OPPORTUNITY (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

OPPORTUNITY

the tall handsome man
tells me my house sold on the first
day of its listing
I don't know which is greater:
my disbelief or surprised delight

I've never heard of this happening before
and now I'm free to find a new home

what will the moments and I make of it,
this shining, empty shell of opportunity


[a tanka with two two-liners on a dream of 4-21-17. Photo "I.V. Mural 2017" (3-27-17 005v2) 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.

EDGES (photo) & THE BREWING STORM (free verse poem on a dream) by Roswila

THE BREWING STORM

a storm's brewing!
one doesn't need to have heard
the weather report to know this,
the smell in the air,
the slight heightening of the light,
the mild tickling of anxiety:
when will it burst upon us?

I hurry to the ocean edge
of the dock to watch its arrival
from over the sea, a friend
trailing behind me

waves build, bit by bit, enough
that I wonder if this newest
swell will wind up showering
the dock and all of us watchers

my friend laughs lightly, how
silly (she says) we know we're
going to get hosed, maybe even
washed right off the dock,
and yet here we stand

I nod "yes" not even taking
my eyes off the ocean surface
as this newest wave continues
its forward swell, a darkening arm
of aqua frosted with the fading
sunlight along it's growing curl,
as the electric pre-storm touch
of the air briefly crackles
through my long pony tail

and I respond to my friend
with a wistful sigh, that getting
dunked would be a very small price
to pay indeed, to be swept out of our
dry, safe selves, into an unpredictable
ride through the wild and passionate
oceanic world; can't you hear
it calling? (I quickly add) as if the sea
were being churned up by both mermen
and mermaids alike, singing the praises
of the dark and the deep


[free verse poem on a dream of 4-19-17. On waking to the memory of this dream I took it as a warning some sort of new emotional storm is on the way for me. (Sheesh! It's not as if I haven't been living in a huge storm already for over 9 months now...) And it sure does seem to be well on the way. It's taking its good time fully getting here, but phew! My biggest struggle will probably be just to accept whatever goes under in the storm, and a lot does seem to be getting shaken up and loose already. Probably all for the best. I hasten to add that, at another level, there's also a definite wishful calling of this storm to me, and I'll leave it at that. :-) Photo "Edges" (4-19-17 017v2) 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.

THEY ONLY DANCE AT NIGHT (photo) & ABANDONED (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

ABANDONED

the deep green shopping cart, abandoned
upside down in the park, supports pale green
wheat-like stalks growing up through its bars
in captivating feathery displays that stand taller
than all their unsupported companions bowing
their heavy heads around the cart toward the earth:

even the misplaced, the forsaken,
the seen but oh-so-carefully-not seen
bring something of value to the world,
a welcome beauty and use if we only
keep our eyes open


[non-dream free verse poem written 4-20-17. Photo "They Only Dance at Night" (4-19-17 019v3) 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 FALL (photomorph) & A MOMENTARY FALL (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

A MOMENTARY FALL

that still small voice we all have pipes up again
(it's been particularly verbose today!) this time
to say: It's time to let the miniscule moments
of Life come to you, one after the other; to be
clear, you need to stop chasing after possible
future moments, trying to know them before
you can know them; not even the most cautious
and thoughtful seeker in the forest of the unknown
can fool something new and wild and unexpected
into hanging around long enough to be sighted
much less captured, for it is a wild thing's nature
to flee when hunted; Life only needs you to be
quiet and receptive, and it will lay its scintillating
offerings in your hands, like a flow of sweet
water over and between your fingers
from which you may sip,
before each momentary fall trails away


[non-dream free verse poem written 4-19-17. Photomorph "Water Fall" 95-27-15 045v2p) 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.

A FAR REACH (photo) & THE BURDEN OF NOTHING (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE BURDEN OF NOTHING

how awkward to have one's life centered around
an absence; I mean almost literally, like a large hen
brooding over the emptiness between her long pale legs;
the brief sighting of a mature rooster rousing her feathers
to full fluff as she rears to brightly colored attention
on her nest and sighs (if a hen could sigh, of course),
even as he passes her by like all the others; is she too big,
too imposing, too laid back as she waits alone; is her roost
too far out of reach for a roused rooster to have the patience
to approach, here in this private corner of the barn loft ...
whatever! you'd think they'd sense her echoing emptiness
packed round with readiness but no, she just waits
and waits, tired of waddling when she wanders out
for a breath of fresh air and is reminded yet again
of the burden of nothing she bears between her legs
(if, of course, a hen could even think of such things)


[non-dream free verse poem written 4-5-17. I've had this ready for a while but have hesitated to post it. But I don't have anything else ready for posting and, hell, why be embarrassed about the subject matter anyway. After all I am 73 and have been around the block a few times. Yet, still, I am a little uncomfortable with it. Some things never change. :-) Photo "A Far Reach" (4-3-17 011v2) by Roswila; BTW, that's the Channel Islands vaguely on the horizon, almost looking as if they're floating in the air]

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.

DANCING THROUGH THE NIGHT (photomorph) & BARE OUTLINES (mixed format dream poem) by Roswila

BARE OUTLINES

she looks through the pile
of black and white ink sketches,
they're clearly quite old
but the artifacts they're of
are older yet, from ancient times

one drawing stands out:
six nude, large bodied women
lie shoulder to shoulder
in an orderly row
in their long gone bog grave

what deep history
was buried with them, she muses,
did they dance through
their nights, or mourn their ways
slowly to this group burial

something in their shapes
is vaguely familiar ...
ah, they're not Celtic
as she'd first been inclined
to believe, but Tuetonic

she finds this knowledge
an odd sort of comfort
as if for once
her Mother's lineage
has slipped quietly to the fore

she ponders over this sketch of ancient zaftig women
grateful for even bare outlines of what has shaped her


[tanka series capped by a two-liner on a dream of 10-6-14. I ran across this old, previously posted dream poem looking for some other poem and felt quite stirred by it. Will have time later to examine that feeling. But what occurs to me right now is that I'm finally firmly on the last leg of a very long journey down from weighing 356 lbs in 2001. So my body is changing even more (beyond the on-going advance of age and arthritis). BTW, at the time I wrote this I'd always believed my father was almost entirely Irish. Since then I've had my DNA analysis done and find I'm only 4% Irish. And given I'd always been told my mother was German and Polish (with a smattering of Russian Jewish), I was rather surprised to also find my DNA is 24% Scandinavian. Those Vikings really got around! Photomorph "Dancing Through the Night" (4-3-17 019v2b) 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.

A LONG WAY TO NOW (photo) & ICE DANCING (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

ICE DANCING

stay in the moment
(they gently assert again)
and even as it melts
beneath your dancing feet leap
to the next crackling floe

[possible re-post of a non-dream tanka written July 2012. I've been doing a lot of talking about (and even sometimes succeeding at) staying in the moment. This tanka is an old image for what being in the moment can sometimes feel like to me. A combination of joy and danger. Photo "A Long Way to Now" (4-15-17 022v3) 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.