• days gone by

    michael raven

    [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

    Note: I am take 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.

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  • pier

    michael raven

    [originally published on sceadugenga.com, July 23, 2020]

    rank fish and saltwater
    watching the ferry glide
    across the water at dusk
    the fire of the dying day
    dancing on the waves

    Note: I am take 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.

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  • crystal tears

    michael raven 

    show no steely smiles
    nor crystal tears
    as you ghost dance
    this mortal coil
    bound by razor wire,
    guilt and shame

    [originally posted on sceadugenga.com on July 10, 2020]

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  • Disruptence and Discord.ance

    michael raven

    My break from posting new content notwithstanding while I do a personal reset, I am not planning at sitting idle, tapping at tabletops with forefinger and repeating “What to do? What to do?” while trying to find a Zen moment streaming Yanni.

    As appealing as it might be to listen to Yawni all day, I am honestly trying to disrupt my personal thinking and writing processes.

    (more…)

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  • epiphany

    michael raven 

    tok tok tok --
    raven tapping on the
    fog filled street

    [originally posted on sceadugenga.com, June 22, 2020]

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  • wraps and chains

    michael raven 

    gallons of ink have been spilled
    etching razor blade words 
    into arms wrapped in the rags of
    our stains

    little changed in the years between
    youth and age
    till gagged
    still chained

    [Originally posted June 23, 2020 on sceadugenga.com]

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  • A long and winding road

    michael raven

    I will be taking a break from posting new material on-site for an indeterminate period of time. For the most part, anyway — if something tickles my fancy and I feel it inflicts maximum torture on you, the reader, I may post it.

    But the fun (sic) doesn’t end just because I am taking a break.

    I’ll be scheduling some repost of older pieces from the earlier iteration of the site over the coming days. You can marvel and be amazed at just how far I have or have not come in my writing skills (again, sic) since 2020 and onward. Some pieces might even be found in my book (now in hardcover and larger format!), which I have shamefully not promoted in the recent past.

    [You should know that I’m terrible at self-promotion, if you haven’t guessed that already.]

    I may also pop on by your lovely sites less often than I have as I try to limit my Pavlovian dopamine hits via interaction. Lucky you! Fewer undesirable and silly comments from me.

    Why? I am recalibrating.

    Self. Writing style and approach. Spiritual and emotional state. General burnout. Other things that I likely forgot to include in this short paragraph.

    I am tempted to set up a Discord to talk to myself and for anyone daring to peek behind the curtain during this time. But probably not. That seems like more torture than most people are willing to endure. And I never listen to myself anyways.

    Other side -> Seeing you

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  • sin

    michael raven 

    some strange feelings
    come with that fragment
    a song not heard since
    the late 80s

    part is loath to stream it
    knowing that moment
    of remembrance will
    be ruined

    the other part wants
    to let it play loud
    until the kids tell me
    turn it down

    in the meantime
    i  fidget with the memory
    trying to recall what it is
    i think i recall

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  • Going to the chapel…

    michael raven

    Another four prompts from Jolene.

    Another absurd little tale. Okay, maybe not that absurd.

    The prompts:

    1. laundromat 
    2. shocking announcement
    3. person who takes shortcuts 
    4. person who needs to remove a tattoo right away
    Gee, I really love you
    And we're gonna get married
    Going to the chapel of love

    The sunlight was more blinding than it had any right to be, piercing even eyes closed tight against such insults and it sent my head spinning. Or the room spinning. Or, the whole world had become a giant tilt-a-whirl and I fought the urge to vomit up all the liquor I had consumed at the—

    Umm. Record release party on the Strip. That sounded right, the answer hiding just behind the pounding on the inside of my skull by some wee gnome with a steel hammer.

    After which, I think it was followed by an an after-hours rave.

    I think. Things went all wobbly right after hailing the Uber with Jessie and that producer she had the hots for that we were chatting up at the release party.

    (more…)

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  • casting runes — 31aug26

    michael raven

    kenaz
    ash remains...
a smudge over each eye
to wipe away a pale veil
that lies, hidden
of shadow & fey
burning brands
to light the way

    A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.

    Today’s rune is kenaz, which has been translated as both “torch” and “ulcer” . It is conceived as symbolic of flame, which is the illuminated creativity as well as the source of purification/healing/cautery. Fire is a a source of transformation and unmaking as well as heat, passion and light. As an ulcer, kenaz can be associated with a fever or inflammation, perhaps a wound which requires healing.

    Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.

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