ravensweald

c: 260904.1341

[originally posted on sceadugenga.com on August 29, 2020;
modified September 1, 2026]

denise, with black & sick-green
painted nails, rat's nest siouxsie hair
hefted each of her knit long sleeves
showed me her arms, each
etched with words:

"MAGGOT"
"WHORE"
"TRAMP"
"GROTESQUE"

in block letters, thinking
to scare me away
"i'm ugly, on medication &
i cut myself.
see? doesn't that scare you?"
expecting me to make excuses
as to why i had to leave

i smiled sadly, 
not sure how to tell her
i'd share her pain,
if only she'd let me,
having carried the burden
of my own

she drifted away before i might reply,
an ophelia in the weeds

Note: I am taking a short break from posting new material and am tossing out a few older pieces as explained here and here. Thanks for your continuing support.

tagged:

from the archives, poetry

filed under:

poetry

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words

only regrets
04Sep26 | 11.04 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260904.1104
[originally posted on sceadugenga.com, September 25, 2020]
```
wineglass lipstick kiss
cigarettes not mine
the traces left behind

drunk on her kiss
"yes", on my lips
i ached to acquiesce
but
haunted by
my own judas --
i could never do the same
to someone i knew

and so "i can't"
came out instead...

she left angry,
and i was left
embracing only regrets
```
Note: I am taking a short break from posting new material and am tossing out a few older pieces as explained here and here. Thanks for your continuing support.
tagged:
from the archives, poetry
filed under:
prose
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only regrets
Converting blog to .md (.txt)
04Sep26 | 09.18 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260904.0918
Vibe coding is the best part of AI, really.
There are times that I just want a simple script. Something useful to do something absolutely stupid-simple except that I don’t have the coding skills or the knowledge on which commands will get me what I want.
Some of the WordPress plugins I did for my gothic western were a bit more complex, but in no way would justify paying someone $10 annually for a subscription to “not quite do what I wanted it to do, but it was good enough for my needs” kind of thing. AI wrote those plugins in minutes flat for nothing.
I have no intention of taking work away from real coders, but having something to covert my old blog .xml files from sceadugenga.com (2019-2025) into a readable (or even printable) is not stealing money from anyone. It’s something that some simple coding can do, and more efficiently than both free and paid options out there offer.
(more…)
tagged:
.xml to .md, python tool to convert posts to markdown, vibe coding
filed under:
thinking
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Converting blog to .md (.txt)
Half-Penny Thoughts — 04sept26
04Sep26 | 07.29 CDT
© 2026
michael raven
c: 260904.0729
What’s with this trend I am seeing of writers who publish Kindle-first books of giving superfluous subtitles to their work?
Or has it always been around at this frequency and I am only now noticing it? I am well aware that the idea of using a superfluous subtitle in of itself is not a new thing, but when this month’s offerings of “free” Kindle books for Prime customers are littered with subtitles that make no sense to add, I have some head scratching going on inside my skull.
“Title: A Novel“
“Title: A Thriller“
“Title: A Historical Romance“
“Title: A Horror Story“
In every case, the subtitle doesn’t add to the title, but arguably subtracts from it. The subtitle describes the book’s genre/subgenre, it doesn’t create an narrative atmosphere in any way.
(more…)
tagged:
half-penny thoughts, writing about writing
filed under:
thinking
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Half-Penny Thoughts — 04sept26

days gone by

03Sep26 | 14.54 CDT

michael raven

c: 260903.1454

[originally posted on sceadugenga.com, August 31, 2020]

labyrinthine skyway
urbanex trespass
riding the viking city's back
aloft and above
throngs and buses
summer heat

mills where wheels turn no more
empty railroad warehouses
where bums shit, sleep and drink

mary tyler moore in bronze
holding court in crystal
buskers outlouding street preaching
shouts at the devil in biker leather
the casual lusty glance 
of hookers towards cops
jesus smoking, watching
unperturbed
we try to catch mohawk's eye
— she deftly ignores

black men in bright
purple zoot suits
daring you to enter dick's:
"are you experienced?"
next to narrow high windows
selling fantasy and
rifle sport record store
dirty magazines adjacent to
paperback necromonicon,
maus and superman
buck knife wielding rednecks
who hate the fag you must be
while the pigs turn away
ignoring the scene

bawdy cabaret vaudeville tucked
behind "SEX SEX SEX"
because naughty of all stripes 
belongs to the neon-lights

sipping at turkish sweet coffee 
and your java gyro lunch
waiting for the show
where a man plays guitar in a
worn out house dress
from a second hand store
and nothing more