Category: writing

casting runes — 17dec25
othala
```
i fell chasms
i drowned lake bottoms
to reclaim my ancient teeth

old man crag
accepted my pointed bone
before he swept me home
a-chatter on north winds
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is othala, which has a core meaning of “heritage”, “inheritance” and “legacy”. These are all associated with home, kin, ancestors, stability and (in some interpretations) past lives or spiritual legacy.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
17 Dec 25

beaivi

kissing the horizon
she slipsbone pale
fingers slick of hope
at return on the
other side of night
we wave and
give to grave our
many pasts on
black wings
of the crow

16 Dec 25

simple things:

simple things:
four different ways
skies and stone
above and below
and those places
left in between

black sheen brow
crossed of blood
cut ashen
i turn my
flint head away

16 Dec 25

casting runes — 16dec25
kenaz
```
after pasts go to pyre
burning the longest night
a brand to sear away
open sores left behind
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is kenaz, which has been translated as both “torch” and “ulcer” . It is conceived as symbolic of flame, which is the illuminated creativity as well as the source of purification/healing/cautery. Fire is a a source of transformation and unmaking as well as heat, passion and light. As an ulcer, kenaz can be associated with a fever or inflammation, perhaps a wound which requires healing.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
16 Dec 25

val sans retour

given to pressing petals of
her fragrant valley sheltered
drinking her butterfly wine
grown over gone under
lingers myrrh sweet inside
slumber her summer slopes
tracing dew along her lines...
who would wish for return
after lingering this vale?

15 Dec 25

At Winterkiss
Photo by Amirhossein Kianbakht on Pexels.com
Lingering at midnights, the skin’s hollow drum thrumming with tension tugging taut the skin in anticipation as black coil fingernails trace leys down the soft flesh of an inner forearm. First right, then left, setting lines burning like fireflies down to the fingertips.
Comes at winterkiss. “Are you ready,” said she. A nod with it begins, her kiss leaving every nerve burning alive.
A furtive nod, afraid the spell will break and longing for the neverending. Miraculously, there is only long vibrations humming through, a guitar string of tension bound under flesh.
All bells break, shatter the water’s razor edge and then begins a falling, a falling lingering a twilights all that remains is the skin’s hallow drumming while wondering at Elektra and if might this be that hunger she beheld.
15 Dec 25
casting runes — 15dec25
dagaz
```
come on in twist, for
a turn on the scythe
to carve away thin
to skate on black ice

dance on night fires
pierce ragged hearts
ribbons to raw, to dream
in everlasting kiss
```
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.
15 Dec 25

under her lacuna moon

come this solstice night
& follow me dark river
nadir kissed & ragged lips
under her lacuna moon

come this solstice night
& twist shadow at murder
cross silver ashen pale
to carry her winter words

come this solstice night
we stand stone whores with
blood marked cheeks
under her lacuna moon

14 Dec 25

sudden as sunset

as sudden as sunset
the sadness descends
with old blood weight
on the pristine of snow
she shifts inside, sighs
finger draws the frosted panes

13 Dec 25

casting runes — 13dec25
thurisaz
```
pierced sleeve hearts
drive to pale hollow
shadow, wraith and man

dreaming verdant gardens
there, in tanglewood
desolation, an angel, iron sea

thunder sparks the stone
him in waiting
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is thurisaz, which has several core translations: “thorn” or “giant”. The rune is often associated with pain or discomfort (often for an important transitional or transformative reason) or raw power that may be destructive. It is also considered protective, regenerative, and is frequently associated with women’s menstrual health.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
13 Dec 25