SCATTERED BY THE SILENCE (photomorph) & O HOLY NIGHT (on a night's dreams) by Roswila

O HOLY NIGHT

shiver me timbers!
I sing “O Holy Night” on and off
all night in my dreams; even as I dream,
I know this is strange -- I love the music
of old hymns but am not religious --
and though some of the dreamy pleasure
is in knowing I’m hitting the high notes
(and there are plenty in this hymn to miss
given I lost my soprano top years ago)
I think the wish here is for a savior’s
intervention during this pandemic;
and, there you have it, the heart behind
my passionate dream-time singing;
“a new and glorious morn” indeed,
but each time I wake it's still dark out
and filled with an agitating silence;
no UCSB students squealing and laughing
outside my window, no cars and trucks
rolling by or noisy motorbikes:
we’re all sheltering in place trying
to stay on top of this unwelcome silence;
and so, I turn over yet again,
fall back to sleep
and dream-sing the hymn


[written about my dreams of 3-27-20. Here are the lyrics to O HOLY NIGHT that I was singing in my sleep:

O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
O hear the angels' voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born
O night divine o night
O night divine

I’d say more, but I’m certain I’d go on way too long. In many ways, I’m in a situation to be grateful for. Of course, how long before it collapses around all of us living here in our Retirement Community is anybody’s guess. And I simply must put a shout out of gratitude here for my friend, Blue, and all he does to help me. And to our staff and community resident volunteers.

Photomorph “Scattered by the Silence” (Screenshots 3, 10-15-19[36]) 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 or contrasting 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.

STAMPEDE (photomorph) & [untitled] (dream haiku & dream monoku) by Roswila

[untitled]

a huge field of folk
burrow beneath the surface
fellow prey

I hide under my covers run to ground


[a dream haiku and a dream monoku written and posted separately in September of 2007, posted here as a pair. And, yes, these are from those ancient, handwritten dream haiku notebooks of mine that I’ve been reviewing, on and off, for a while now. I chose these as they echo much of what my experience has been like so far with “sheltering in place” due to the covid19 pandemic. The worst so far? Learning last night that my home city of New York is our country’s epicenter. Worse yet, that where I lived for almost 30 years before moving here to CA, is the epicenter of the epicenter: only six blocks from Elmhurst General Hospital in the Borough of Queens. Why that should hurt so much more than what’s going on here in extremely hard-hit CA I don’t know. But it does. Photomorph “Stampede” (Screenshots 9, 3-21-20[19]) 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 or contrasting 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.

COMING APART AT THE SEAMS (photomorph) & WHAT AM I STEALING (mixed format dream poem)

WHAT AM I STEALING

what am I stealing,
over here, by the garbage bins?
I may not know what,
but I do know I don’t want to
get caught red-handed with it

ah, speaking of red,
that guy just spotted me and he’s
waving a red scarf
in a rather seductive way as if
deflecting my dismissive mien

OK, so that’s his game: I flirt right
back letting him believe what he will

just as long as he doesn’t figure out
before I do, what I’m trying to steal

who knows, I may lose out (as I often
do) if he decides to take it for himself


[two tanka and three two-liners on a dream of 3-22-20. This is a more than usually dense dream to “unpack.” So, I’ll leave it for later and maybe pull some Tarot cards on it. I can say now that it’s jam-packed with multi-level associations. E.g., there's a lot of covid19 anxiety under it all, especially on how will we survive the empty supermarket shelves, and such. And that red scarf: wow, although it actually feels more like someone waving a red flag at a bull. 😊 Also, I woke up this morning with a broken blood vessel in my right eye (rare that that ever happens). So, I’ve got a weird looking red-eye. After just now choosing the photomorph to go with this poem, I think maybe its content and title may reveal the dream's deepest level. Photomorph “Coming Apart at the Seams” (Screenshots-many 2-04-19 [7])]

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 or contrasting 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.