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  • flint drags night

    24Sep26 | 12.58 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260924.1258
    with red eyes raw
    for sleepless, searching
    for whatever bone is
    left of love lies scattered
    stone shores washing
    ocean in every latinate
    spoken crossing white crests
    while flint drags
    night to morning

    tagged:

    poetry

    filed under:

    poetry
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    flint drags night

  • casting runes — 24sept26

    24Sep26 | 09.12 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260924.0912
    wunjo
    deep the well &
    little from which
    to draw except
    sharp objects—
    flint, bone & nail

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

    Today’s rune is wunjo, which is translated as “joy” and has been interpreted in both the earthly sense as well as in spiritual ecstasy. It has been associated with healing (emotional, mental and interpersonal) and some sources connect the rune to luck, the act of making a wish, or applied will. Wunjo can also be the inspiration for creativity.

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

    tagged:

    poetry, rewilding, rune, wunjo

    filed under:

    poetry
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    casting runes — 24sept26

  • Crashburn

    24Sep26 | 08.17 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260924.0817

    Yesterday evening was a crashburn kind of writing sesh. The spirit is willing, but the flesh… and all that.

    Oof.

    What set it all up is that I did a reset on the serial I had plans for.

    Name change possibly in the works because Everything Falls Apart is a little too, well, apocalyptic sounding for what I have in mind. This story churning around in my head is unlike most of the tales you may have read from me. It is present day and not post-apocalyptic. Nothing fantasy. Nothing science fiction. Nothing cosmic horror. Nothing overtly absurd.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    episodic fiction, fallen off the wagon and thinking again, things things things, writing about writing

    filed under:

    writing
    16 comments on Crashburn

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    Crashburn

  • (More than a few) Half-Penny Thoughts — 23sept26

    23Sep26 | 08.43 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260923.0843

    When I was but a wee lad (okay, closer to legal adulthood than lad), I went to a high school that happened to be “in the hood”. Literally, and in both senses.

    Minneapolis North was my assigned high school by virtue of proximity (slightly closer than the other option, Minneapolis Patrick Henry) and, because of the post-60s civil rights movements of the time, I was going to get bused in even if I lived a couple blocks further north and would have normally be assigned to Henry by virtue of the color of my skin and the word “desegregation”.

    Not that I minded. Unlike a number of my Caucasian peers at the time, I was raised to largely be colorblind and it made no difference to me who I schooled with when it came to the color of their skin. It always seemed like an absurd fetish to me to worry about such things.

    Click this paragraph to skip my brief history lesson

    (more…)

    tagged:

    3d printing, bookmaking, desegregation stories, half-penny thoughts, handmade books, small press

    filed under:

    thinking
    13 comments on (More than a few) Half-Penny Thoughts — 23sept26

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    (More than a few) Half-Penny Thoughts — 23sept26

  • casting runes — 23sept26

    23Sep26 | 07.11 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260923.0711
    ansuz
    brack-a-crack &
    rattle bone branch,
    grey on the autumn come
    
    howling hollow places
    our breath down low
    gather change winds
    come them home

    A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.

    Today’s rune is ansuz, which has a core meaning “a god” (intended to be Odin), “mouth” or “breath”. Odin is representative of many, many things… in this case, ansuz is most representative of the mouth/breath (speech) that gives life to poetry, magic, song, language, and spirit — largely inseparable in the Viking worldview — and Odin is considered the supreme master of these intertwined concepts. By way of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, the rune is named æsc, which is translated to “ash”, a tree associated with Odin and is representative of resilience and strength.

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

    tagged:

    ansuz, poetry, rewilding, rune

    filed under:

    poetry
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  • when we winter

    22Sep26 | 21.41 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260922.2141
    all we stand pines
    many winds we speak
    dark heartwood groves
    our brown on ground
    in skirts found flowing
    below in chinese whispers
    carried around, around
    until all sense lost falls

    when we winter,
    we crackle & pop

    tagged:

    poetry, solitude words

    filed under:

    poetry
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    when we winter

  • sacrifices

    22Sep26 | 11.59 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260922.1159

    I was wondering today about taking time to acknowledge what is given to us is a lost art. It can be as simple as spending a moment thanking whatever gave your to dinner — some god, the plant or animal, the spirits, or simply acknowledging that something was sacrificed to feed you. Even walking out to the tree that shades your evenings in the summer and thanking it once in a while — have we lost that sense?

    I went to pick up a package that was delivered this late morning. I didn’t ask that it be delivered separate from the other items that made up my minimum order, but it was delivered all by itself. Heinz Malt Vinegar, mostly because that doesn’t appear to show up in grocery stores and I’ve been craving fish and chips with Heinz Malt Vinegar, in case you were wondering, which I suspect you were not.

    There have already been two other deliveries this morning from the big “A”, one completely unrelated to this order and all picked up by the kids.

    No one noticed, but there was a dead bird at the bottom of the stairs.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    acknowledgement, silent thanks, unexpected

    filed under:

    thinking
    11 comments on sacrifices

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    sacrifices

  • casting runes — 22sept26

    22Sep26 | 09.40 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260922.0940
    hagalaz
    searching for stones
    inside of stones —
    bramble clings to rags

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

    Today’s rune is hagalaz, which has a core meaning of “hail”, which was associated with potential, transformation, renewal and change; hail is imagined a seed from which change will arise. Hagalaz is also seen as representative of things beyond our control: a clash between fire and ice.

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

    tagged:

    hagalaz, poetry, rewilding, rune

    filed under:

    poetry
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  • Oh, bother.

    21Sep26 | 19.18 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260921.1918

    Just that. That is all. Nothing more.

    tagged:

    annoyed

    filed under:

    junk drawer
    2 comments on Oh, bother.

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    Oh, bother.

  • drawing zero

    20Sep26 | 13.27 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260920.1327
    with words flailing
    at razor-reaped wind
    all bramble eyed with
    teeth like wine and
    vignettes stained with sin
    i step jingled jester
    over broken ends
    to begin everything
    once again

    tagged:

    betwixt and between, poetry

    filed under:

    poetry
    1 comment on drawing zero

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    drawing zero

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