Category: writing

  • red red wine

    Photo by Andriyko Podilnyk on Unsplash
    on the drift
    i close my eyes
    beckon & recall
    raw chapped lips
    stained red red wine
    yours, mine, both—
    who could tell?

    in thrall;
    that was the day
    of my dying
  • casting runes — 03dec25

    gebo
    for what seems a forever
    i have made myself a gift,
    ready to trade this chilled cheek
    for a summer's kiss from you

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

    Today’s rune is gebo, which has a core meaning of “gift”. This relates to all forms of reciprocity: transaction, generosity, hospitality and sacrifice (in the sense of giving up something). It may also mean offering up a talent or skill, and may suggest a synergistic, possibly romantic, relationship.

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

  • another tangle

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash
    another tangle of winter
    at slick crags open water
    i shed these bones for you

    chisel shadow, wax & stain
    heartbeat heavy slow
    ancestors flow on whisper

    gather flame of heartwood
    collect forgotten songs
    here raises laughter
    here we belong
  • catscratch

    with skin kissed in rope burns
    and pricked of thorns
    sheets stained of summer and
    whispers screamed at forlorn

    all barbed with catscratch
    do you desire anything more?
  • casting runes — 02dec25

    dagaz
    drawn to earth
    more than that just under
    ragged-hewn fingernails
    scratching at blood soil—
    toss aside your frame-drum
    and follow me down

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

    Today’s rune is dagaz, which has been translated as “daybreak”, that transitional moment between night and day. By extension, it might also be interpreted as “twilight” and is representative of liminality, transformation, the space between worlds, and suggests walking in both the material world and otherworld.

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

  • some kind of old

    getting old is when
    you've lived too long
    after folks once laid odds
    on if you'd see
    twenty-nine

    it feels like
    some kind of old
    a very steel grey
    kind of day
  • with pictures

    i kiss you with pictures
    windswept and forlorn
    with winter racing across
    the unfrozen pond
    everything stained scarlet,
    pierced pale & bruised black
    pricking skin in hoar
    to bring bright on pink

    i kiss you in pictures
    burning as flame draws fire
    burrow deep, now
    under the root's tangle
    bury me deep inside
    & draw me ever down
  • casting runes — 01dec25

    mannaz
    flint to flesh
    scars to wash the blind
    she waits on blood to briar
    to staunch the stinging
    with her coldstone kiss

    A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.

    Today’s rune is mannaz, a rune that translates to “man” in the sense of “humankind”. The rune is associated with family and the social order, and in trusting the intuitive process or seeing clearly — both from within and from without. Mannaz influences relationships of all kinds, including those of a romantic nature and encourages compassion, for oneself as well as for others.

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

  • Death at the Wharf

    Photo by Izzy E on Unsplash

    I was murdered at Fisherman’s Wharf late one night in the month of July, way back when in 1995.

    (more…)
  • to see

    this nothingness,
    a rope around my feet
    marked in stains & aches
    burnt remains
    sullied & unclean
    grasping at waters
    waiting blind for to see

    go away cold
    i give hills empty