Dream Haiku
This is a new list--a subset of dream poems. Not just haiku here--any sort of ultrashort dream-poem. I didn't pick a cutoff number of lines, words or syllables; more by feel. If it's short and lyrical, not narrative, it's here.
Not quite all entries here are poems. There's a long how-to article by Roswila and a couple of Kerouac's dreams told in prose that include short poems.
RELATED TOPICS: dream poems - Dreamverses, an experiment in daily dream-poems - Roswila's dreamku - picture-poems - downloadable dream songs - musical dreams in general - writers and writing - spells, incantations, and curses - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
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AFTER HE DIED: by Jane O. Wayne, 1990?, a dream-poem fragment After he died, I dreamed that the phone rang and when I said "Hello"... |
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AFTER THE BANG: by Wayan; 2001/5/16, a poem on the World Dream Bank. The Big Bang happens, you're inspired, you make something of it... then what? The Big Whimper? |
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AIRPLANE WITH BORN: by Catshall; c. 2014/11/8, a dream-haiku on American politics? I dream of an airplane with a born-again pilot. I challenge him: "just because you're rich doesn't mean you can run things"... |
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ANOTHER DREAM OF BURIAL: dreamed 2009 or before, by W.S. Merwin; poem of recurring dream The garden varies, but I have always turned away and walked into the whole world. So far... |
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AT A CALIFORNIA CAMP: by Jack Kerouac, spring 1955, a nuclear testing nightmare My family and I are prisoners in a camp that will be H-bombed so our remains can be studied. I write a Buddhist poem preparing for death... CAUTION: GOVERNMENT ATROCITY |
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BAREFOOT: by Catshall; c. 2014/12/14, a dream-haiku on the drought I dreamt I walked barefoot on newly fallen snow... |
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BELIEF IS GRIEF: by Wayan; 1992/7/31. A two-page picture-poem Anti-ideological rant calling experience water and belief... ice. |
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BOB THE TREE: by Catshall; c. 2013/6/21, a dream-haiku on our marriage I dreamt Bob was a tree-god enthroned in ivy. I said... |
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BREAK / FAST: by Roswila; c. 1987, a poem of a predictive dream My friend stuffs a broken feeder with birdseed. I worry it'll attract too many wild birds. He laughs "Exactly!"... |
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BURMA SHAVE: by Wayan; 1982, a poem on dreams. If you dream, don't drive. If you drive, don't dream. A public safety message from the other world. |
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BUT OUR CAT...: by Wayan; 1974/2/7, a dream haiku I'd just gone off to college. I dream I'm back in my quarrelsome family's house-- as they start World War Three in the back yard! But our cat... |
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CAT WHO TURNED: by Catshall; c. 2014/9/29, a dream-haiku Dreamed of a cat who turned into a man. when you rubbed... |
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DANCING BACKWARD: by Roswila; 2007/5/21, a punning dream-poem I just watch as all the dance students practice the jive step. I think I already know that one... |
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DARE: by Catshall; c. 2013/6/13, a haiku on an incubated nightmare I challenged my dreams to hit me with their worst. And they did... |
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A DREAMKU PRIMER: by Roswila; 2007; how-to guide to dream haiku Distilling a dream to one key image can clarify it. But don't be ruled totally by traditional haiku form... |
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DREAMKU, JUNE 2006: by Roswila; various dates up to June 2006; thirty dream-haiku Daily dream-poems in haiku style, nonstop for a month. A flood of animals, revenant ghosts, sex changes... |
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DREAMKU, SEPTEMBER 2006: by Roswila; thirty dream-haiku with various dates from 1960-2006 One dream-poem in haiku style each day for a month! Ghosts, snow, penguins, yoga babies, elves who leave their tree... |
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DREAMKU, JANUARY 2007: by Roswila; various dates up to January 2007; 31 dream-poems--mostly haiku A month of dreams full of science fiction: galactic navigation, spacedragons, oppressed fairies, alien love... |
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DREAMKU, MARCH 2007: by Roswila; various dates up to March 2007; 31 dream-poems--mostly haiku Dream poems laid out like a calendar. Themes? Horses, camels, abused girls, vampires--all want their freedom... |
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DREAMKU, APRIL 2007: by Roswila; various dates up to April 2007; 30 dream-poems--mostly haiku Dream haiku laid out like a calendar. Roswila's favorite is the pirate, but mine is the were-salamander... |
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DREAMS IN WAR TIME: by Amy Lowell; c. 1917, a chain of seven small dream-poems Terse dreamlets quietly catch World War I's effect. Faith died in the trenches... |
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FAREWELL: by Georges Perec; January 1969, a dream prose-poem of loss foreseen. Dream #6 Dream of a breakup I see coming but can't prevent, and the devastation it works on my lover... |
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FIBONACCI: by Wayan; 2011/4/18, a dream-poem with answers My friends are all computer programs. But then, so am I. But it's not so bad, because... CAUTION: DREAM-PUNS |
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FRISCO GONE: by Catshall; c. 2014/10/23, a nondream haiku on a flooded city old Frisco gone, high-rise condos obscure the view: hives for techie... |
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FROG: by Wayan; 120K, 2000/4/19, a narrative digital picture-poem I was single and tired of kissing frogs. Then I realized--I AM one. Or worse: a pretentious polliwog... |
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GOD DRESSED YE, MARE: by Wayan; Christmas carol misheard 1968/12/25, dreamt I sang 1984/9/16, & drew 2008/6/28. At 15 I misheard God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen and liked my version better. "Lit muffin, rude Esmé"... |
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HER GESTURED ROUTE: by Wayan; 1984/6/16, a dream poem. How's it feel to be an anima off the job? Is it lonely, when no one even believes you're a real person? |
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ILLUSION: by Georges Perec; December 1968, a prose-poem of a nested false-waking dream. Dream #4 I am dreaming. She's beside me. I tell myself I'm dreaming. I wake. She really is beside me. Delirious joy. I embrace her. I wake... |
IS A SUN: by Wayan; 1992/2/20, nondream picture-poem. |
Poem by Emily Dickinson on fighting depression, which I get when my neuroallergies are severe... |
KISS THE CATS: by Wayan; 2008/8/23, a dream poem, Dreamverse #13 |
I have to kiss a mess of cats. Fishy, but I'm not chicken. My real beef is with the humans watching... |
LITTLE DEVILS: by Roswila, 2007/10/30; a dreamku |
A dream haiku of little devils dancing the conga. What's it mean? Well, check the date... |
LOCKED ROOM: by Catshall; c. 2014/10/6, a dream haiku on a classic Jungian dilemma |
Dreamt of locked room, door-knob fell off in my hand when I... |
LONELINESS HAIKU by Anonymous #52, 1975/3/26; a haiku in a dream |
THAT DAY: I landed in Japan, but felt an outsider, cut off. THAT NIGHT: I dreamt a haiku expressing my loneliness... |
MAN TRIUMPH ANT: by Wayan; 1990, a lost typographical picture-poem |
The image got lost, but the words survived, so here's the poetic saga of an ant that left th' farm... |
MOVING: by Roswila, 2007/10/13 and 2007/10/23; a recurring dreamku |
My dreams support a radical break from my past--to let go of possessions and friends in a cross-country move... |
MUTT HUNCH: by Roswila, 2007/11/13; a dreamku |
A dream haiku telling of a dog-pack saved by the intuition of a mutt with a mangled ear... |
MY DREAM NIGHTJOB: by Jack Kerouac, late 1956 or early '57, an outa-the-mouths-of-babes dream. |
I commute to my dreamjob on a four-story bus; then my baby brother (who I wouldn't let eat any chocolate pudding) utters a new poem by William Blake... |
MY NEW JOB: by Wayan; 1987/4/20, a haiku-ish dream joke? |
At the library, my boss says we're restructuring, modernizing. My new job is to... |
ON BEING NEEDY/NEEDED: by Roswila; February 2002, a dream-poem |
In her kitchen she offers me shortcake. She's short herself, for she gives away all to everyone--only her bodiless head is left... |
ONE-EYED BOY: by Roswila; 2009/4/5, a dreamku on the limits of desire |
You'd think his Christmas wish would be "a new eye"; well it was, in a way... |
ONLY A PIECE OF PAPER: by Wayan; 1980/12/15, songlyric heard in dream. |
Kate Wolf sings that ads are way dirtier than porn. But my memory slowly twists her message... |
THE OTHER PILLAR: by Roswila; 2007/12/9, a double dreamku |
A kinky seduction slips into something more uncomfortable: the Qabbalah? Or possibly leather... CAUTION: EROTICA OR ESOTERICA? |
PEGASUS LANDS: by Roswila; early 1990s? A collaborative haiga [picture-poem] of a dream |
Haiku by Roswila of a dream of meeting a winged horse, illustrated by her late friend Janet... |
PLUM CRAZY: by Wayan; fall 1973, an early surreal but nondream poem |
Plums float through the autumn air, sending us airmail kisses. If we'll accept delivery... |
POX: by Wayan; 2021/2/10, a short undream poem |
Smallpox is extinct. No need to worry. But the pocked face of the rising moon reminds me malice, madness, incompetence and black-market greed, our four horsemen, aren't extinct... CAUTION: ODE TO SMALLPOX, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? |
PURR: by Wayan; Sept. 1981, watercolor of a dream. |
I dreamed our family's black cat Persephone had to make a life-decision... |
RIDING MY UNICORN: by Wayan; 1993? Digital picture-poem of incubated vision. |
I'm single and feeling shy. So I asked my dreams for an image of my true love, and got... CAUTION: SEX |
SKY-THAW; 2012/6/8 by Wayan; a comic, surreal, political dream-poem |
While watching two rooftop actors (one a chicken) I noticed the icebergs in the sky were melting at last... |
SNOWDRIFTS: by Catshall; c. 2014/11/5, a dream-haiku on the drought |
I dream of snowdrifts too deep to get back home, even though... |
SOLILOQUY #5: by Kathleen Raine, between 1988 & '92; an ultrashort dream-poem |
I set out in a dream / To go away / Away is hard to go, but no one / Asked me to stay... |
STEPMOTHER: by Catshall; c. 2014/9/24, a dream-haiku about revenants |
I dreamed my stepmother moved in with my dead grandparents... |
THE STONE BRIDGE: by JL; 1968, as told to Georges Perec; a surreal, haiku-ish dreamlet. Dream #39 |
A stone bridge, at the crossing of a road and a river. A signal sign indicates the name of the place: (YOU)... |
SURFACE TENSION: by Roswila; 2007/12/8, an anxiety-dream poem |
Skimming over the lake on surface tension as two sharks prowl beneath, I'm not sure who's fishing for whom... |
TACKY IS AN ANGLO IDEA, or, NEW BRACELET!: by Wayan; 1983/6/22. A bilingual undream. |
I like bad taste. Taste always tasted like another Anglo conspiracy to keep me from having fun... |
TWENTY-SIX LETTERS, or, A Complete Summary of Poesy; by Cory & Wayan, early Aug. 1992; a haiku slam | You get 26 dice with letters on every face. Roll them all. Your haiku must use every letter. Go! |
AN UNPRODUCTIVE SQUIRREL: by Wayan; 2013/11/27, an advisory shamanic dreamlet |
I meet a giant squirrel. But a Committee condemns the squirrel for such long periods of unproductive hibernation. The squirrel points out a teensy flaw...
| WITHOUT KNOWING: dreamed 2009 or before, by W.S. Merwin; a dream poem on flying
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I was flying south so it was autumn, numberless autumn with its leaves already far below me... |
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