Author: michael raven

  • we stone

    a path in the middle of a dark forest
    Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash
    here we stone
    under her sun
    & feverwarm

    here we loam
    ruddy that leaf &
    deadwood

    here we stone

  • Brief and bass lives

    Bass and electric guitar
    Photo by Juan Montana on Unsplash

    I have been doing that dangerous thing called thinking and it revolves around getting back into making music again after a long spell away. All of this listening to postpunk/darkwave/synthwave/coldwave has gotten my brain tick-tocking (with the occasional disturbing click) and I very tempted to go out and buy myself a new, not piece-of-shite, bass guitar, lay out some drum machine tracks and go to town on writing a couple of new songs in that vein.

    Although I don’t know how many folks remember the Neddies (Ned’s Atomic Dustbin), but the thing that made them interesting is that they used two (2) bass guitars for much of their music. While I’m not looking for that Midlands 90s sound, I think it would be fun to steer things in the direction of old school postpunk with double bass guitars, one playing rhythm and the other playing the melody (think ol’ Hooky, especially with New Order where he played the melody while Bernie or Gillian sequenced the rhythm bass).

    I’m just realizing that the above two paragraphs might be complete nonsense to the uninitiated. But think! Think! How cool that might sound as long as you got the sound punchy enough so that both bass lines didn’t end up in the mud!

    Now plotting how to add a “good enough” electric bass to my collection of instruments…

  • blind eyes close

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash
    gazing hand & shadow
    this bone, this muscle
    untouchable & tiring
    skinstained with night
    painted to stars myrkr
    heavy, they anchor
    a heart sent to slumber
    under wood & gloaming
    a kiss to blind eyes close

  • sleepless

    sleepless hands crab & 
    clutch at taut muscles
    frozen long nights
    eyes seeking skies for
    the host on the ride

  • Rewilding: An Inquiry

    a path in the middle of a dark forest
    Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash

    When I think too much, these are the kinds of thinks I think about. I would not blame someone for stepping slowly backwards after reading this blast of questions. [MR]

    What is the purpose of ritual? What makes it an apparent requirement for spiritual practice? Is it an actual requirement or is it perpetuation based on tradition?

    What is the purpose of ritual tools? Are they actually necessary to evoke/invoke spirits or deity? Again, are they perpetuated due to that hobgoblin, tradition?

    When you practice your beliefs (faith, if you prefer), to you go forth or call in? Do you seek to empty, seek to fill or is this a null question with a null response?

    Is it faith? Or is it gnosis?