THE BIG TUMBLE (photomorph) & IT (ALWAYS) COMES BACK TO KITTENS (dream narrative) by Roswila

IT (ALWAYS) COMES BACK TO KITTENS

they're a rather scruffy bunch of dark
grey tabby kittens, even so they prompt
a smile from me as I wander by them
playing in the shadows
of the restaurant
on the wharf

what grabs and holds my attention and
doesn't let go of the nape of my neck like
a mother her wriggling kitten, is a dark
haired woman announcing sotto voce
her intent to commit suicide

she stands by the old, beat up car she'd
been driving and just stepped out of onto
the sun hot floorboards of the otherwise
totally empty wharf, her announcement
and eye contact with me
happening simultaneously

my mind unwinds like an ancient roll
of camera film as I consider a series of
ways in which I could frame a response:
my first offering to her is voluntary
commitment to a facility dedicated to
helping people in her straits but she
begins to back away, skittish, and I'm
afraid she'll just drive off

I know something has to change and
soon, as I can sense that her resolve to self
destruct is hardening, drying and sticking
fast in the hot sunlight: I next suggest she go
to the hospital complex very near this wharf,
adding gently that medical insurance will
cover it even if the hospital does other sorts
of medical care as they have a unit set aside
just for folk in dire emotional straits

her eyes lay bare the depths of her doubt
and pain but she nods "yes" once and gets
behind the wheel of her car again; the hair
stands up on the back of my neck: "That
was an awfully close one!" I think,
somehow certain she'll go to the hospital

the kittens still tumble through the shadows
as I pass them on my return walk: should
I pick one up and cuddle it? "Nah," I
mumble to myself, they're probably feral,
better to briefly appreciate their antics
but leave them well enough alone,
and get on with my long walk home


[narrative on a dream of 6-28-18. That "always" in the title ties this kitten dream to the many others I've had over the years. One very recently. I tend to relate to kitten imagery as representing anger, i.e. based on that expression "Don't have kittens!" Click here if you're interested in reading the kitten dream of a couple weeks ago. Photomorph "The Big Tumble" (5-13-18 034v2p) 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.

IT BLEW MY MIND! (photomorph) & ANOTHER DIDJERIDU DREAM (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

ANOTHER DIDJERIDU** DREAM

why do people find her saccharine songs,
not to mention her off-key singing,
so appealing? well, one might say:
"Tone deaf, that's what they are!"
and I suppose there's truth in that

however, here I stand myself, unable
to get one droning note from this delightful
small didjeridu (really more like a shofar*,
were it not clearly made of polished dark
wood), and I'm supposed to know how
to play these damn things!

and, yes, I could answer myself, I do
know how, I just can't play all the didj's
I come across, anymore than every single
singer's admired by one and all

but I still don't understand all this praise
for her obviously awful singing, and worse
(blush!), why it should matter to me anyway,
who stands here, holding this didjeridu,
out of which I can't get even one single
high buzz or throaty rumble


[free verse poem on a dream of 6-24-18. *Shofar. **Didjeridu). BTW, as mentioned here many times before, I own two didj's that I still play in our retirement community Talent Shows occasionally. Beyond the more obvious "message" (envy/competition) in this dream, the didjeridu image is a familiar one in my sleeping brain's wanderings, pretty much a prodromal dream image. When I'm having trouble playing a didj in a dream, it almost always seems to be just before I recognize some physical health issue. And I woke up on the 25th of June with an excruciating new sort of pain in my already badly arthritic right knee. I hope the rest of this familiar image's "message" holds true. I.e., when it comes up in a dream it always reminds me that I actually had a very difficult time learning how to do the circular breathing one needs to play a didjeridu. But I did not give up and did learn how. May I also, if not heal, at least learn how to live well with this new pain in my right knee. How to keep on making music, if you will. (These comments were drafted two days ago, and the knee pain has eased but is definitely not gone. Of course, a full moon is due in tomorrow, and my emotional and physical perceptions frequently get rather skewed before a full moon. So, I wait and see.) Photomorph "It Blew My Mind!" (2-28-15 003v2b) 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.

EAGLE EMERGENT (photomorph) & REST STOP (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

REST STOP

Sitting on a sun-warmed boulder
I hear distinctly behind me
"Tit-willow, tit-willow,"
each syllable crisp and definite.
Then a more melodic phrase,
followed closely by a raucous one.

I am perched before a mockingbird
airing its entire repertoire,
from stand-up comedy,
to manic scolding,
to lilting serenades.

The sun sets on my wish that it
would entertain me this way
forever, the creaking of budding,
breeze tossed branches
its metronome.


[non-dream free verse poem written in May of 1985, and revised several times over the years, the most recently today (6-25-18). This is another of those poems I spoke of (and posted) yesterday that I've always liked but had trouble with. I'm still not certain it's "finished" (is anything ever?). But it's a good day to post something less intense. Something more externally focused, for a change. My arthritis has taken a new twist in my right knee, almost literally. And I don't know if this is a change I'll just have to accept, or if it will heal. Only time will tell. BTW, I did do a tremendous amount of walking recently, knowing I was taking a risk. Ah well, I don't need my knees to write or to listen or to look, etc., etc. And this poem raises a precious memory. Photomorph "Eagle Emergent" (2-28-15 002v10a) 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.

THE ONLY WAY OUT (OR IN) IS THROUGH (photomorph) & THE QUEEN TO SNOW WHITE (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE QUEEN TO SNOW WHITE

Beware! Your haunting hope's
more like a starkly charming
incubus invading the long night,
feeding your desire with passion
as insubstantial as moonlight

Beware! You just might
starve on this diet of hope,
that like oh-so-sweet cotton
candy melts away as soon
as you close your emptiness
around it

No, no, my dear, why not
instead take a bite of this
juicy ripe red apple I hold out
to you in my frail old woman's
hand, shining like a heart
bursting with anticipation
at the touch of your gaze

Then, feel the first swallow
slide down your throat as if
toward a secret birth promising
no illusion
no starvation
just endless sleep


[non-dream free verse poem written in June 2010, and revised several times since, most recently today. This is one of many poems I have that never quite jell but keep calling out to be worked on. I.e., there's something there I've not yet said or it's just not said quite "right." With this particular poem I have removed and reinserted that opening stanza several times. I may have posted this piece years ago here, in an earlier version. (I used this blog's search function but couldn't find if this was so. But I also know the blogger.com search function often misses things that are there.) Wonder what I'll think of this version if I stumble across it years down the road? Especially as I still have a vaguely uneasy feeling about it. BTW, this same unfinished but still interesting issue crops up in my photo/morph work as well. Even more often there. Photomorph "The Only Way Out (or In) Is Through" 6-25-09 2811v6) 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.