Author: michael raven

  • Upcoming release: Watering Words by Bridgette Kay

    Hey, just a quick shout out for my good friend out on the west coast, Bridgette Kay. She has just revealed the cover of her upcoming book, “Watering Words”, a collection of twenty-five short stories she wrote a few years back and has since revised and is set to self-publish.

    ©Bridgette Kay, Cover design: Vivian González Zúñiga

    I recall a number of these stories from back when she put the initial drafts on her site as part of a challenge to write one short story a week for fifty-two weeks. Since then, she’s gone through and given them each an overhaul and subjected them to extensive rewrites.

    I’ve got my eye on picking up a preordered copy myself in the next day or so.

    Like many of us who write, Bridgette admits she is feeling the imposter syndrome creep up on her as the publication date creeps closer. I recall that feeling when my own book came out — only it never went away… [cue canned audience laughter].

    Hopefully she’ll get over that because you jumped at the chance to buy a copy and boosted her.

    A portion of all sales goes to a local nonprofit, G.I.R.L.S. Rock Sacramento. As a father of three daughters myself, and as she notes on her announcement, we need more organizations to help young women find their voice more than ever these days.

    Check it out and let me know if you buy a copy. Better yet, visit Bridgette on her site and tell her yourself.

  • Of Underways

    They walk in underways, mirrored in us while raven laughs of treetops wending and above for all our blind eyes, all our deaf ears stopped up with the cotton of tomorrows never known. They lived in us once, too, and ache at our immaturity.

    People think me mad to stare at unseen campfires while my bed is burning, making mumbles at the slow folk gathering ’round as they warm their bones against the steel nights cold. At least the stars shine bright below on frigid nights, along with mother moon pale down in the skies.

    The madness is in ignoring the folk, not in engagement. As they say, the stone would tell if you just gave them space to share the tales. Rushing, most people are enthralled with the ghostly glow pouring from their hands to succumb to the rocks’ demands. They cannot balance their earth and their rivers, everflowing faster and going nowhere fast.

    As I said, raven laughs, raven is the watchman, amused as we move in circles and never going anyplace — least of all fast. Dead, blind and stupid.

  • south lane

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash
    these shadows on the moon
    cast a face of yours in pale
    throwing stars numbered
    sharp, cutting and fallen
    will we remain the unforgiven?

    in one year or three
    we will see if you walk
    down south lane dreams
    see if knots truly bind or
    if unkindly ones give tell

    the ocean's scent carries
    even here

  • The Dust Settles, But Not The Moss

    This morning I was able to identify the buggy element of the commenting system and now things seem to have settled down on the site in that respect. Or, rather, comments and WordPress.com integration have been behaving as expected all day and I’ll count that as a win.

    (more…)

  • the fool

    a path in the middle of a dark forest
    Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash
    finally, a step into tomorrow
    i shook my head, no no no
    we won't go back to those
    we won't go back

    for here is alone in the
    beat of the drum of the
    heart of the wood in the
    dreaming of the years
    now

    shadowfall & the
    autumn decay bursting
    forth underboot scenting
    my way home