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  • casting runes — 27mar26

    27Mar26 | 13.11 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260327.1311
    laguz
    is she she or is she crow?
    her stillwaters gliding over
    there is little enough divide
    maybe a razor cutting shore

    A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.

    Today’s rune is laguz, which has a core meaning of “lake” and, by extension, may be interpreted as “river”, “ocean”, “sea”, “waterfall” or a general body of water. Some alternative interpretations define as “leek”. Following the more commonly accepted meaning, bodies of water were considered liminal spaces, a place between life and death or the threshold space between which spirit and substance resides. Laguz is often associated with feminine energies and journeys via water.

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

    tagged:

    laguz, poetry, rewilding, rune

    filed under:

    poetry
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  • what else?

    26Mar26 | 21.30 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260326.2130
    just leave me pinions pierced
    leave me nailed to oak
    leave ink welling up of soul --
    what else am i here for?

    shrieking mandrake dreams
    barbed wire 'round my neck
    leave me bound and sold --
    what else am i here for?

    tagged:

    poetry, betwixt and between

    filed under:

    poetry
    2 comments on what else?

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    what else?

  • SDPC Post-Mortem and Aftermath

    26Mar26 | 13.57 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260326.1357
    Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven

    Well, Miss Vivian Locke had gone back to her life of not dealing with exorcisms, divorces cases and whatnot. Back down into The Gills with it’s static rain and Cookie’s coffee. Mr. Cross is not what he might seem on the outside, but isn’t that always how it is?

    I had fun writing Sunny Day Parasol Co., but I will readily admit that it went off in a direction I hadn’t anticipated when I started writing the story. In fact, I thought it had maybe 10,000 words and was solidly in the short story realm when I started. Turns out I was wrong at more than double that amount (~ 21,500 words, roughly 65 printed pages on A4 — for those who care about such things).

    (more…)

    tagged:

    writing about writing, serial fiction, noir, vivian locke, occult noir, episodic fiction, sunny day parasol co., ash & thorn, vengeance my heart, post-mortem

    filed under:

    Vivian Locke Occult Noirs, serial fiction
    9 comments on SDPC Post-Mortem and Aftermath

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    SDPC Post-Mortem and Aftermath

  • casting runes — 26mar26

    26Mar26 | 10.48 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260326.1048
    wunjo
    all at face to her light
    rising on the eastern reach
    to feel her warmth
    against my cheek
    to turn to her return

    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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  • Other Writers — A Writer’s Shindig

    25Mar26 | 18.50 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260325.1850
    Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

    I should have been more on top of this, but recently my fellow writer Ted Wallenius (aka shredbobted) pulled together about a dozen writers to do some short story workshopping and cross-promotion. Six of them made it through the gauntlet (the other six, including myself, started but then a little then a little thing called “Life” got in the way for us). Those brave and creative souls were:

    • Emily Amsel — Loss Part I, Part II & Part III
    • Stephen Bent — Trees Grow Around Wire Part I, Part II & Part III
    • Jeremy Miller — Corrections Part I, Part II & Part III
    • Sarah Orr Aten — Smoke on the Water Part I & Part II
    • Jolene Rice — An Oily Mess Part I, Part II & Part III
    • Ted Wallenius — Strapped for Love Part I, Part II & Part III

    If you are ever on the lookout for some talented writers and don’t have two pennies to rub together, you can probably find something worth reading from at least one of these six talented individuals. There’s a little romantic fantasy, a little body horror, a bit of absurdity crossed with action flick, several literature played straight pieces, and something I would call speculative fiction.

    It’ll keep you busy for an afternoon, for sure.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    writers supporting writers, other writers, short fiction

    filed under:

    reading
    19 comments on Other Writers — A Writer’s Shindig

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    Other Writers — A Writer’s Shindig

  • casting runes — 25mar26

    25Mar26 | 12.59 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260325.1259
    ingwaz
    i draw on bonefires
    burning shadow
    from the long night
    the dance mantic
    against tall oaks
    & selling dream

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

    Today’s rune is ingwaz, a rune named after the god Ing or Freyr. It is representative of a channeled energy or transformational process. It is also be seen as the male component of life, and therefore a symbol of sexual passions and the contributed “seed” of life (and, therefore, an aspect of one’s ancestral ørlǫg, or fate/destiny). Some interpretations conceive the rune as a symbol of darkness, solitude or dreaming.

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

    tagged:

    rewilding, poetry, rune, ingwaz

    filed under:

    poetry
    4 comments on casting runes — 25mar26

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  • Epilogue

    25Mar26 | 07.00 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260325.0700

    an episodic Vivian Locke occult noir

    Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven

    Sunny Day Parasol Co.

    Epilogue


    This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.

    The Meridian Club had been a monument to high-stakes vice; now, it was just an open wound catching the city’s freezing rain. Red and blue police lights pulsed through the ruptured doorway, casting long, fractured shadows across the pulverized baccarat tables and the sea of abandoned chips.

    In the dead center of the devastation, Cross stood up from the gray ash and dusted off his suit.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    noir, prompted fiction, writing challenge, vivian locke, occult noir, hardboiled, episodic fiction, sunny day parasol co.

    filed under:

    Vivian Locke Occult Noirs, serial fiction
    4 comments on Epilogue

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    Epilogue

  • undertow

    24Mar26 | 21.48 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260324.2148
    what's the point?

    scrape bone with flint
    phantasmagoric
    and toss finger broke
    i can hear her calling
    over the wave;
    so slip me undertow
    before i wake

    tagged:

    poetry, melancholia, pointless

    filed under:

    poetry
    2 comments on undertow

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    undertow

  • under a blood moon

    24Mar26 | 19.42 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260324.1942
    i cut my lip while
    kissing your lazuli eyes
    under a blood moon
    last night, at least
    a decade ago
    it seems today

    bone pale, you laughed
    as you tossed your
    ebon hair away
    cast it to the stars to
    wash my cut away

    i only wished
    i had listened harder
    before i grew stone
    in sternum and
    memorized the how
    of that song on the
    breeze that night

    tagged:

    poetry, betwixt and between, old ways

    filed under:

    poetry
    4 comments on under a blood moon

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    under a blood moon

  • Case File #15: Absolute Zero

    24Mar26 | 07.00 CDT
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260324.0700

    an episodic Vivian Locke occult noir

    Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven

    Sunny Day Parasol Co.

    Case File #15: Absolute Zero


    This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.

    Kogan’s lead ampoule shattered under my bandaged knuckles. The purified salt and cold iron filings scattered across the green felt, but the dead quicksilver didn’t just spill… It leapt. It shot from the broken glass like a liquid soul, violently drawn to the impossible shape of the Black Sulfur token.

    It hit the velvet exactly as Cross’s rotting entropy and Gallow’s crushing stasis slammed into the table.

    The ignition didn’t produce a fireball. It produced an execution.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    noir, prompted fiction, writing challenge, vivian locke, occult noir, hardboiled, episodic fiction, sunny day parasol co.

    filed under:

    Vivian Locke Occult Noirs, serial fiction
    4 comments on Case File #15: Absolute Zero

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    Case File #15: Absolute Zero

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