FISH OUT OF WATER (photomorph) & THE STONE GATHERER (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE STONE GATHERER

On first attempt, I do not drown
but float to the surface, my back bent
above the water.

I tell others the stones I now collect
are grave markers.

But my body is the true marker
and its own grave, deserted by all
but the faintest signs of life that twist
upward like stunted flowers
through graveyard dust.

And I continue to collect stones, lining
my seams with pebbles, my pockets with rocks,
my shoes and socks with gravel.

I even swallow small ocean worn stones.

I will not surface
this time.


[non-dream free verse poem written in 1990, revised & posted in 2007, rev. in 2013, & re-posted today, 9-22-18. I suppose there may be a connection between my re-posting this very old poem because it too accurately reflects my mood for some time now and it being my (deceased) father's birthday. Right at the moment I don't see any really meaningful connection. Except that I said to a friend the other day that this month (from mid-September to mid-October) tends to be sad for me as it holds the birthdays of my brother, father, and mother -- all deceased (at 65 years of age, 66, and 34, respectively). Leaving me the only one of my primary family still struggling along (at 75). And if that sounds self-pitying it's because it is. Photomorph "Fish Out of Water" (8-17-18 018v2b) 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 HANGOVER (photo) & "looking through old posts..." (mixed format, non-dream poem) by Roswila

looking through old posts
for a poem to re-post today:
what am I searching for?
isn't that always the question,
and, as always, I've not a clue

I turn toward the brightening window:
the marine layer's* just about burned off

that will have to suffice, I set my fingers
to keyboarding and begin a tanka


[non-dream tanka with two two-liners written 9-21-18. *The mornings at certain times of the year here in south central coastal CA are rather foggy. It's a "marine layer" that ultimately keeps it relatively cooler than other areas around us, while still allowing for a sunny mid-day and afternoon. Photo "The Hangover" (9-12-18 002v2) 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.

FLOW (photo) & "palm frond shadows..." (non-dream haiku) by Roswila

palm frond shadows
shifting on the pool surface
ungraspable


[non-dream haiku written 9-18-18. This one's sort of odd for me. Obviously, shadows on a pool can't be grasped. But I'm hoping what they made me think of, is also there for a reader. I.e., just like one's thoughts (and so much else about life that we tend to clutch after). But making it more explicit messed it up as a haiku. So I'm going to live with this question about it in order to keep the more haiku-like feel. Photo "Flow" (4-13-18 008v5) 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.

GREETING THE SUN (photomorph) & UNKNOWN (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

UNKNOWN

will any man ever smile at me again
the way you did that day? as if I were
an unexpected rising of the sun after
an endless night, and, surprising me
even more: what could such radiance on
your usually artfully neutral face mean; well,
I haven't a clue, not then, not now, and being
so bereft of any knowing, I've simply held
the memory of your brief break out smile
as one more of life's many mysteries,
even as I yearn for the solace
in these times when shadows run
a repetitive show,
of standing in the glow
of that smile again,
transfixed by its ephemeral flash
of the unknown


[non-dream free verse poem written 9-16-18. There may be a connection between it being my deceased brother's birthday today and this poem. Although the poem is overtly about someone else actually in my life now, my brother did have a rare sort of smile on occasion. Like this one in a photo of him as a child. Yes, a very posed picture, but that look in his eyes is genuine:

Photomorph at top of this post: "Greeting the Sun" (8-17-18 008v6a) 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.

DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (photomorph) & LONG BEFORE (dream narrative) by Roswila

LONG BEFORE

he informs me (rather too casually) that
my woman friend of all those years ago
had been a very good, thoroughly trained
and licensed massage therapist; hell, he
must know (being as close to me as he is
and reading all my poetry as he does) how
this suddenly revealed fact from the past
would be a shock, and even more so, hurt
my feelings; no, not that his telling me hurts,
but that she never did, that she kept such a
central aspect of herself a secret only
from me, and this, long before her dementia
tugged her away from us all; and I sigh (so
many sighs in this late end of life, almost
a new breathing pattern: sharp, deep,
quick), she must have been voluntarily
keeping a distance between us, all along,
well before her failing memory was even
a blip on the horizon; and now I begin to
mourn not only the loss of her friendship
but my understanding of what that friendship
had been: the shallows far greater than
the depths I'd thought we shared ... how
can a dying illusion be as painful
as an actual death


[narrative on a dream of 9-8-18. The following comments are an example of how a dream of mine is sometimes only the preamble, if you will, to something I need to think about and/or do: Of course, after working on this dream I added silently to myself "It's all illusion, anyway, isn't it?" And taken in the Buddhist perspective, it is. However, to embrace this is not to be pain free, but (if I understand correctly) not to suffer over it. What's that expression? "Pain is inevitable, suffering isn't"? So I suppose the hitch is to feel the pain and let it evolve, let it become something else, just as everything in life ultimately does. I've been acutely aware recently of how close the past of decades ago seems to be in memory. When I think, say, of something that happened 40 years ago, I wonder how it can not only still be so strong, but still have such an effect on me. The struggle becomes, more and more, to let passing time pry me loose from relating to memories as absolute and prescriptive. It's more than past time to do so. And today is already slipping away into memory ... Photomorph "Days of Future Past" (8-17-18 008v8) 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.