THE TOWER (photomorph) & "ghosts drawn like moths..." (non-dream Tarot tanka) by Roswila

ghosts drawn like moths
circle the burning brilliance of the
lightning struck tower
an enlightenment in which even this
peculiar glowing of ghosts plays a part

This is a non-dream Tarot-based tanka written 1-3-19, inspired by all the thinking I've been doing about The Tower Card (XVI) in the Tarot. Every year's end I choose at random one of the 22 Major Arcana in the Tarot deck to represent some important aspects of the coming year for me. This year's is XVI (drawn from The Ghost Tarot Deck). The above image is one of my own photomorphs in which I see XVI (The Tower 8-12-15 011v5). And following here is XVI in the well-known Rider Waite Smith deck:

Last, here’s a link to an on-line posting of the version my tanka most directly references (scroll down to the third pic of a Tower card):

The Tower in The Ghost Tarot (as posted to the site: “The Tarot Parlor”)

I would normally scan in The Tower card from my own Ghost Tarot deck (it’s one of the faves I have in my collection) and post it here. However, I’m still not fully set up – much less fully skilled – to do that sort of many leveled work on my new computer system. One of the many meanings to this card, BTW, is “a humbling.” And this process of getting files moved from my old computer, determining what programs to load on my new one, figuring out how it now all fits together (or not, as the case may be) etc., etc., all while learning Windows 10 – well, it’s a major humbling. However, that’s not what was consciously bugging me when I wrote the above tanka. I was seeing at last a use for the myriad of ghosts out of my past that have been circling more than ever recently: sort of like night lights in the gloom.







[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: Trying to Hold A Box of Light

ON THE EDGE (photomorph) & ON THE EDGE (a night dream) by Roswila

ON THE EDGE

like a flag pole, one might say, this very tall,
very thin male friend of mine I have feelings
for (yeah, that kind, warm below the belt)
calls me over to him; the night wind of the
city is brisk but not wintry, as he softly
asserts (as if he doesn’t want to wake the
sleepers in the buildings standing darkly tall
around us) “Isn’t this view spectacular?” he
then urges me to walk with him to the un-
fenced edge of this raw brick, roof top
terrace, past the chimneys and door hatches,
“For an unobstructed view,” he adds; he
senses my unexpressed hesitation as we move
closer to the unbarred, brick terrace edge,
and puts a long, suit-coated arm around
my shoulders urging me forward toward the
view over the street far below; we stop when
we can walk no further, and I look out over
the city of night lights and then down into
the street canyon just in front of my feet;
I almost gasp at the beauty and the depth,
afraid anything I say will unsteady me or
worse stop the sexual heat now rising between
us, and stand silently, holding my breath; I
suddenly recall he’s brought us to an edge
before; but why here? why now? in a flash
I realize it’s the same old story:
he wants me to fly


[dream of 1-2-19 (posted 1-3-19). Photo "On the Edge" (taken & edited sometime 2012 or prior) by Roswila, another re-post. I've also reposted the comments below as they address issues I haven't talked about here in a long time, and reference old prose posts of mine about writing dream poems, especially haiku/dreamku, that may be worth a re-visit. BTW, today's brand new writing is not a poem and yet it is: given the entire dream scenario is a metaphor. Not produced by my waking mind, true. But my mind, nevertheless.]

PLEASE NOTE that in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, that the photo accompanying a daily dream poem or non-dream based poem is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse -- similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku). I've also recently realized that although the dreamku (i.e. dream based poems) posted here tend not to have metaphor or simile, the accompanying photos almost always act as such. And to write a metaphor or simile into a dream scenario is something I rarely do. It can be confusing: did it really look like a hand, say, in the dream, or am I just being poetic to make my conscious point? As these dreamku act as a dream journal, my over-riding tendency is to try to stay close to the actual dream scenario itself. Admittedly making for a tendency to less "poetic" dreamku. Then why pay attention to any haiku, tanka, or monoku parameters at all when writing about my dreams? Because I find in even attempting to adhere to them I'm making choices that relieve my dream recall of a great deal of chatter so that I can get down to some important dream aspects. Here's a link to THE AREN'TS OF DREAMKU & ACCOMPANYING PHOTOS in which I go into some of the basic parameters for dreamku and the photos chosen to go with them (and with any non-dream based poems I post here, as well).

The archives in the sidebar hold years of the daily dreamku, tanka, monoku and photo posts I've made, grouped in one post by month. As I no longer post dreamku (or non-dream based poems) strictly daily, each post will appear below and then in the archives by the day on which it was posted.

There are many other sorts of posts here, not all dream-based. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non-dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers than myself), 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.

* * * *

‘til next time, keep dreaming,

[aka: 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”) **** My other blogs: ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT; and TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT ****

BREAKING THE SURFACE (photomorph) & NEW YEAR 2019 (non-dream mixed format poem) by Roswila

NEW YEAR 2019

“grateful yet annoyed…”
I could say that about all years,
this on-going mix
and, yes, the operative word above is
“on-going” – for wasn’t it just yesterday
I figured out I’d be 56 (oh-so-old)
years at the turn of the century?


[non-dream tanka capped by a two-liner written 1-2-19. Usually, there'd be a line space between the fifth and sixth lines. But for the sake of sense, I've left it out. Photomorph "Breaking the Surface" (10-7-15 v5c) by Roswila (re-posted from a few years earlier, as I've been and will be doing until my new computer system's fully loaded with my pix and the appropriate programs)]

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, as the above is), 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 blogs: ROSWILA'S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL; ROSWILA'S TAIGA TAROT; TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT; and THE MARKER TAROT.

THE LIGHT SPEAKS (photomorph) & FOR MY UNCLE ON WINTER SOLSTICE (mixed format, non-dream poem) by Roswila

FOR MY UNCLE
ON WINTER SOLSTICE 2018

it’d be his birthday
but there’s never celebration
when I recall him
oddly, though, for the first time in decades
my toddler affection for him surfaces

nudging aside all the subsequent years of his abuse
leaving my love for him shining like this winter sun


[non-dream tanka capped by a two-liner written 12-22-18. Photomorph "The Light Speaks" (5-1-13 12632v2a) by Roswila; a re-posted photo, as I'll be doing until I've got my new computer system ship shape.]

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.

TRAVELING LIGHT (photo) & THE LONG HAUL (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE LONG HAUL

yeah, she still desires the same things she’s wanted for so
many years, but these days she tends to let go of these
cravings rather readily when they rise, leaving them to break
quickly like ocean waves that drop to their knees but
instantly dissipate without a prayer; for she’s more cautious
now about wishes, having learned what a deep desire can
turn into once granted: an endless freight train crowded
with noisy and, more challenging yet, sometimes totally silent
changing needs and understandings, a rambling ride forcing
her to strike a balance, again and again, as she struggles
to do whatever it takes to protect and honor and keep
healthy what she has so long and fervently wished for and
at last been given the chance to nurture for the long haul


[non-dream free verse poem written 12-28-18. And another year has rolled on by: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Photo "Traveling Light" (re-post of pic shared here on 8-6-14), by Roswila. I'll probably be doing re-posting of pix for the future, as I still don't have my new computer totally set up with all my old dox and pix, and the appropriate programs with which to work on them.]

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.