THE TREE'S BEARD (photomorph) & DREAM NOIR (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

DREAM NOIR

okay, okay, let's see if a dream poem
can be worked up from a careful review
of last night's darkly theatrical production:

she won't give up and it makes a certain
amount of sense as he keeps leading
her on: literally, striding along ahead of
her as she scuttles furiously right behind
through the dark, while he continues
to address her over his wide, if boney,
shoulders, insisting by an echoing
underlying tone in his attitude,
but not by his words or actions,
that they are not and will
not be lovers

then there's that other man, hiding his
clearly secretive motives (is "clearly
secretive" an oxymoron?) behind an
appropriately theatrical beard; LOL!
why doesn't he dispense with the upkeep
of all that facial hair and just use that woman
as his "beard," this anxious gal he talks down
to (again, literally, he's much taller than
she is), after all, she's with him
all the time

the third man in this soon to open new play's
still rather hazy in aspect, all he may have to
recommend him during this run through, and
generate some interest on the part of a
rather old, if mildly talented female cast
mate: his willingness to act in the show
at all may reveal the courage to be
creatively expressive

and finally, but somehow not making an end
to any of it, there's the dream "I,"* who's been
slipping and sliding silently back and forth
between these three scenarios, an integral
part of them each and yet as distant
and cool as a full moon hidden
in the wings of night
by a curtain of fog


[free verse poem on a dream of 11-5-18. * I use the term "dream I," or more often, "observing I," to indicate that as I'm dreaming I'm well aware of watching from a -- shall I call it -- disembodied place, all that's going on, but not taking part in it. This is an ever so vague experience of dream lucidity. BTW, although lucid dreams are said to be sometimes controllable, I've only done that once in several decades of varying degrees (infrequent at that) of lucidity. And was quite disappointed as the dream simply dissipated, almost popping like a balloon, when I controlled it. Also, as I've not pointed out here in some time, I come from a theatre family (my father was a singer, his parents were in Vaudeville, etc.), so theatre imagery in dreams/poems always puts me on the alert to some heavy influence from my past and/or my family's past. In this dream/poem it's an intense mix of both my present life and my history/ancestry. Further re: theatre imagery, I also "perform" my poetry and read occasionally in staged readings of plays. The upshot? Now that I've finished this poem I keep thinking of that Shakespearean quote I've shared in comments here before: "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players." LOL... that just set me off associating to a non-theatrical usage of the word "player," like those first two men in this dream/poem. Photomorph "The Tree's Beard" (8-1-17 002v4) by Roswila; this is one of those pix of mine that looks better in a larger version, so if you'd like, just click on the image to see the many little details.]

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.