LAVENDER THRONE (photomorph) & THE FATHER I NEVER HAD (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE FATHER I NEVER HAD

the father I never had bends
over to push his dark haired
young daughter along the sidewalk
in her plastic, lavender and pink
toy auto, the battery clearly
running very low

the father I still sometimes
wish for whispers over my
shoulder into my ear: "I am
here for you, just open your
heart as wide as your anxious
eyes; I've had your back
all along as you hobble
forward into each new day"

this loving duo disappears
down the tree-lined sidewalk,
leaving me with the gift
of seeing that what never was
does sometimes take on
a life of its own


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-17-17. This one's been on the back burner for a month. It's OK as a poem (not particularly over the moon about it, but OK). However, read in its partly autobiographical context it's a little misleading. I did have a father, and one who loved me. It's all the other stuff that came along with that love, though, that produced this poem. Leaving me with that wish for the safe, supportive father I never did have. And the recognition that day that sometimes fantasy does important stand-in work, without our even realizing it. I.e., that I have on occasion had a safe, supportive "father within." Photomorph "Lavender Throne" (8-15-17 003v3s) 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.

ORCHESTRATING THE NIGHT (photo) & STANDING PEOPLE (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

STANDING PEOPLE*

maybe I love Standing People precisely because
they take a stand: no roots get lifted on the slightest
whim or to move to a softer patch, and there's no
muffling or hoarding of what emanates naturally
from them, bud to leaf to seed: what falls, falls
when and where it will, they stand clothed or
exposed -- they stand on what they are

yes, I love Standing People because
they do not run away from even
hurricane winds, but take the blows,
and the droughts and floods, fires,
and earthquakes, and do not flee
nor even sneak slowly away
like thieves in the night

but along with their closest neighbors
stand together, open
to the unpredictable winds


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-21-17. *Standing People = an American Indian name for trees. Photo "Orchestrating the Night" (8-21-17 009v2d) 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.

SKY PLUMAGE (photomorph) & HEART LIKE A FEATHER (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

HEART LIKE A FEATHER

... and here's that ancient artifact I told you about,
he says, raising a golden-colored feather,
all folded in on itself, which he gently opens up
barb by flexible barb in the late afternoon light

I hold my breath as I watch the feather's
soft grace appear, and am even more
stunned to realize this is not a reproduction
but an actual feather from the lost land
of Atlantis, found in a melting glacier and
unthawing before me ... omigosh, I mutter,
could it be Maat's feather,* against which
one's heart is weighed at death

once thoroughly warmed and fully unfolded
this golden pinion reveals its modern day
incarnation: a three-legged,
dark wood, oval table

the man's pride in and affection for it is
evident as he runs his forefinger again
and again along the single line of gold
painted around the middle of the table,
maybe remembering many a game of cards
played on it, or drinks shared and spilled
in the middle of hilarity, or love letters
haltingly composed with its backing

the table's truly in great shape after all these
centuries and who knows what misadventures,
he comments, his voice hushed as if holding
back intense emotion, adding quickly that
it only has one small nick, somewhere here,
near the gilt line, as he traces his finger
'round and 'round again until he finds
the miniscule scar in the old dark wood

I'd never have noticed it amongst the many
small surface scratches this three-legged
table bears: it's survival down the centuries,
whole and open to being of service, over
and over, makes it nothing but beautiful


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-9-17. * Maat's feather: an ancient Egyptian Goddess of Truth & Justice, Maat weighed the deceased's heart against her feather and woe to the soul of the heart that was heavier. This dream/poem's going to take a lot of thinking/feeling about -- many levels going on here. But my immediate impression on finishing this writing is that it's mostly a wish fulfillment dream, with a heavy dose of intuitive awareness of an actual other person in my life tossed in. BTW, this three-legged table was the same one I saw in my recent dream/poem Like A Stone. Though in that dream I had not been aware that the table was three-legged, I recognized it in this dream as I was dreaming. It will be interesting to see what the connections are between these two dream/poems. Right now I'm struck by the intense contrast between a stone and a feather. Photomorph "Sky Plumage" (5-26-10 10003v3a) 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.

EXPLORING THE LIGHT (photo) & "the fully open ..." (non-dream tanka) by Roswila

the fully open bird
of paradise hefts a budding one
with its long beak:
there are many different ways
to be lifted to the light


[non-dream tanka written 10-9-17 (posted 10-9-17). That "fully open" blossom also lifted me as I spotted it early in my walk, when I was in pretty bad space. It made me chuckle and I realized that if I can still notice such things and even laugh over them, then all is most definitely not lost! Photo "Exploring the Light" (9-5-17 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.

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.

* * * *

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.