AN ISLA VISTA TWIST (photo) & A LIGHT FOG (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

A LIGHT FOG

poems seem to be difficult to get started
these days, just as I am in the mornings,
"leave 'em sleepin' " being the over-riding
urge in both cases

but also as with most mornings something
pulls me forward anyway: memories
primed for a boxing match with the day;
an unmet desire begging to be fussed at
like a tongue at a bad tooth; a dizzying
swirl rising through the mist of a painful,
all too familiar fantasy

and speaking of swirling, that's what the light
fog I set pen to page just now to write about,
is doing as it wanders the Isla Vista* streets
and park, slipping through my mind as well
in uncaught droplets of words,
frustrating my attempt to grasp anything
at all long enough to even start a poem


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-28-17. *The small UCSB town I wander around on some of my long walks. BTW, I'm not really happy with this poem, but it's all I have anywhere near ready to post. And I suspect even were I to let it stew another day or so, I'd not be able to improve it much. Photo "An Isla Vista Twist" (9-17-17 030v14b) 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.

LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT (photomorph) & FOR WILLIE NELSON (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

FOR WILLIE NELSON*

ah, dear Willie, this is the first time
you've actually visited me, what
a surprise! sorry to be a typical
fan girl, but I can't help it, I'm so
in love with you ...

oh no, must you leave so soon? ... um,
I'm even more embarrassed to ask
but may I give you a kiss ...
don't worry, I know you must get
this sort of thing all the time
and it will only be on your
forehead, not an intimate
lip to lip ...

you give me such hope, old man
(emphasis there on "man"
my dear, believe me), if I and
so many others can crush on you
like this, at your still smokin' age,
there's hope someone might, maybe,
with a ton of luck, and a pinch
of good karma, crush on old
lady me before I leave this long time,
lonesome-in-a-crowd planet

it would be so lovely, hell,
so hot! but in the meantime
your singing that thrums like distant
thunder, your rain beaten face, your
long braids like lightning strikes
lighting up your battered old
guitar, well, they nourish me

if only in the repeated visits I make
to the confines of YouTube
or in this brief, delightfully
unexpected visit from you,
jump starting the heart
of a dream


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-27-17. *I've probably mentioned this here before but I've become a major fan of Willie Nelson over the past year or so. And as an off shoot of that, of Country Western Music as a whole (the older songs, not the newer stuff that's almost indistinguishable at times from pop songs and such). Photomorph "Lighting Up the Night" (9-17-17 020v3) 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.

SEA MONSTER (photomorph) & CATTY-CORNER VIEW (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

CATTY-CORNER VIEW

I look to the left,
the direction you come from;
not wanting to be reminded of you,
I look immediately to the right, but
right's where you're always headed;
and so the only direction left to go that's
not a briar pit of fantasies and expectations
that I generate around you, is straight ahead:
to get caught up in neither past nor future, but
to sail right between Charybdis and Scylla*
on each consecutive moment of now,
bearing only the briefest of brushes
with either whirlpool or rock,
like minute breezes stirred
by near misses of
snatching fingers


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-19-17. * The expression "between Charybdis and Scylla" is like saying "between a rock and a hard place." (Charybdis and Scylla, the former being the whirlpool and the latter, the rock in the Greek myth.) And I'd like to say that what this poem explores is something I'm actually doing with any frequency at all, but it's not. This is basically a wishful poem. Or to reframe that thought a bit, something I'm working toward and not without a little bit of success. Photomorph "Sea Monster" (9-15-17 014v3) 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.

LAYERING IT ON (photomorph) & IN ONE'S PERCEPTION (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

IN ONE'S PERCEPTION

man #1, whom I don't like very much but
respect as an artist and consequently crave
his approval anyway, is lying abed; he
sits up to greet me with a tentative smile
on his face; as he does, I glimpse man #2
-- whom I've only seen in a hot sex scene
on T.V. -- peeking out from underneath
man #1 and grinning broadly; man #1
is now spread out on top of man #2 like
a brooding hen, or a thick layer
of frosting on a fresh baked cake

now, I've long suspected man #1 is gay,
so it's no surprise to find him with
a man; what is surprising is man #2
is reputed to be straight; well, I guess
these days -- and maybe always -- what's
straight may at times be prone to bending,
sometimes literally, and at other times
only in one's perception

and on seeing the bright smiling face
of man #2 beneath prompts me to engage
man #1 above in our first truly
friendly and open conversation


[free verse poem on a dream of 9-23-17. This is mostly about my animus. In a Jungian psychological sense and very simply put, a woman's man within. However, it has other levels as well, being like a layer cake (LOL) as dreams frequently are. Photomorph "Layering It On" (9-17-17 021v3) by Roswila; best viewed in a larger version to see the detail, so click on the image if you're interested]

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.

OCEANIC EMBRACE (photomorph) & LEARNING TO EXHALE (dream narrative) by Roswila

LEARNING TO EXHALE

up and down, up and down the long flight
of stairs that creak annoyingly as I hobble

why can't I find, much less choose the right
black shoulder bag I need, I know one's here

I make one last climb back up and select two
bags, deciding to choose between them later

as I reach the first floor landing my choice
seems obvious: the purse I'd given to Brenda*

after all, I gave her a whole lot more than just
a black purse: my loving care as she died

(even though she never asked me to, and once
said she'd never have done the same for me)

the purse problem solved, another leaps right
in to take its place: I miss the last bus home

my choice of bag slung across my shoulder,
I walk in my usual slow way to my apartment

as I start to wrestle my arthritic knees up the
three front steps, Brenda hurries down them

she rushes by me without even a nod of hello,
her gaggle of friends following right behind her

all carry boxes and suitcases, which is worrisome:
what are they taking and where are they going?

(sigh, how can someone long deceased still be
so pretty, and not only that, now be a blonde!)

"Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting
to hear back from you!" I yell, but am stonewalled

an ever so slight smile in the corner of her lip-
glossed mouth betrays she even hears me at all

I exhale, and let the anger go, I can see she's moving
out and that will make all of this worth while


[narrative on a dream of 9-21-17. *As I've mentioned here before, I took care of a friend (Brenda) as she died of cancer, in the apartment we'd shared for years. And, yes, she never overtly asked me to care for her, and she did once say (shortly before her death) she'd not have cared for me the same way. This is one of those jam packed dreams that ultimately leaves me feeling a bit freer of the conflicts and hurts of the past. While showing me that I'm starting to reclaim myself in some way(s). This dream was a clear precursor to what I read just yesterday about one of the emotional inputs into Carpal & Cubital Tunnel Syndrome (which I've only this week realized I have): "Anger at life's seeming injustices." My symbolic repetitive motion injury? Holding tight to the past, especially my hurts and angers. Photomorph "Oceanic Embrace" (10-13-10 10015v5a) 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.