Author: michael raven

cactus hand horses

we cactus hand horses
riding desert corridors
on separate painted stone
sixgunning peepshow
between fingers unfold
she rivers the between &
we gallop two feet ford
we cactus hand horses
riding sunset corridors

11 Mar 26

taking pains

blades bite thorn
my hands, my skull
my heart, my soul
all wrapped in
razor wire bone and
scratched of fingernail
pierced walled alone

11 Mar 26

casting runes — 10mar26
sowilo
```
snowflake but
climbing up
shadows slink
to scheme away
whiling until
after the fall
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is sowilo, the sun. Sowilo is the source of enlightenment, for lighting the way and illumination. It is also called the “icebreaker” and gives power to an “attack”, ensuring success and/or prosperity. This rune also represents hope, the light at the end of a long darkness.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
10 Mar 26
Sunny Day Parasol Co. — Case File #8: Dredging Up Leads
an episodic Vivian Locke noir
Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven
This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.
“So,” Cookie said, sliding a plate of fries onto the table. “You gonna tell me why a walking statue wants to turn you into a paperweight?”
I grabbed the bottle of ketchup and gave the bottom a hard whack before remembering my burned fingers and it sent a nasty jolt of pain, a little deadly dagger that traced a line from my palm to my elbow. I considered asking Cookie to do the honors when I saw the cheap, red sludge escape its glass prison and splurt onto the chipped ceramic plate. A generous third of the bottle, enough to coat the next helping of grease without having to risk the razorblades of agony shredding my arm.
(more…)
10 Mar 26

he fool calls

he fool calls crow
in pale wood, black stone
he red calls ghost
from the south to the north

he road calls spirit
to her medicine ride train
he wing calls kindred
to carry night skies again

10 Mar 26

Half-penny Thoughts — 09mar25
Photo by Bharath Kumar on Unsplash
As I delving back into the habit of writing prose versus my habit in recent years of writing almost exclusively poetry, I’m tossing around several ideas to bounce around my largely empty cranium.
Okay, it’s more like dumping a large bucket of superballs at this time.
Or, if I’m more upfront and honest about what I’m doing, throwing the whole bunch of superballs all at once as hard as I can and see what comes out of the bouncy mess.
(more…)
09 Mar 26
casting runes — 09mar26
hagalaz
```
crack seed pellet
crystal kissed
side-step, slipstream
burning on within

weary of voices ghost
```
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.
09 Mar 26
Sunny Day Parasol Co. — Case File #7: Teeth Are Rent
an episodic Vivian Locke noir
Image generated by Gemini, with direction by Michael Raven
This is a serialized story. Start with Case File #1 here.
Gallow didn’t bother to try to grab me, he just extended the stasis field in my direction. As my rear foot left the parapet, the air in the middle of the alley thickened into a cold, invisible molasses. My momentum died a drawn-out, gasping death; its final rattle was the only fast thing about my rain-drenched descent. I wasn’t falling; I was drifting. My arc flattened out, the cafe’s rooftop now a cruel joke I was destined to miss. Instead, I was going to hang there, a suspended fool in the ceaseless drizzle, until the Foundry’s enforcer reached out and plucked me from the sky like a rotten apple from a tree.
(more…)
08 Mar 26

brokework

he mad dog barked at
walls drawing down
he jaw chomped hard
at cage and at leash

with hatpin hands
and neck rust screech
a brokework heart
and tinsel teeth

dragging behind loathing
in razor wire, unsure
which self to throw
to mists from peak

08 Mar 26

casting runes — 07mar26
uruz
```
iron pierced these & thistle,
in nettle & thunderhead

dredge of horn furrows
over open & naked hand

lost teardrops
lightning shatters sky
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is uruz. The rune is named after the now-extinct aurochs, a wild ox and has become associated with standing up to challenges, having both confidence and courage, stubborn tenacity, and boundless strength and health. Uruz is alternately associated with the more raw elements which include rain, primordial potential, and the slag/dross cast away during the making of iron.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
07 Mar 26