Category: writing

casting runes — 14nov25
ansuz
```
with back to trunk
he sings the tree
burrow-fingers the loam
with bone rap-trapping
rhythms in time with
an oncoming storm
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is ansuz, which has a core meaning “a god” (intended to be Odin), “mouth” or “breath”. Odin is representative of many, many things… in this case, ansuz is most representative of the mouth/breath (speech) that gives life to poetry, magic, song, language, and spirit — largely inseparable in the Viking worldview — and Odin is considered the supreme master of these intertwined concepts. By way of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, the rune is named æsc, which is translated to “ash”, a tree associated with Odin and is representative of resilience and strength.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
14 Nov 25

star to stone

lessons learned,
i fold up my life
tears and creases plenty
across a worn map
places to see through
the hills and vale
stuff it into my satchel
without ceremony
as i crush compass
underboot and follow
a star to stone

14 Nov 25

casting runes — 13nov25
raido
```
tasting the breath
of a weary world exhaling
while sitting chilled on
an autumn slope behind
i may have gone vulpine
tonight in the
heart of the wood
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is raido, which has been translated as “ride” and the implied “journey”. This may be spatial and literal in practice (a physical journey), or it may be more figurative (an inner/shamanic journey, i.e., útiseta). The rune is associated with cyclic motion and the movement of the sun. Some consider the journey represented by raido to be that of returning.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
13 Nov 25

passings

brambling on briar inside
deadfall viscera brittle
under autumn's low sun
hoar on the rooftops pale

i think we are done here
just a few more before

13 Nov 25

my eye

not chasing butterflies i
not watching foxfire tonight
wisps, they drift the willow
and there i turn my eye

she wraps her pale in shadow
she wraps my heart in wire
tug with bone scarred ivory
wrapping shades through my eye

bit lip to raw and scarlet
bit neck to pierce the sighs
inking skin with stars and night
sending ink to black my eye

12 Nov 25

casting runes — 12nov25
eihwaz
```
my spirit is shadow
flowing slow of evenfall river
where murky banks slip by
& all eyes turn away
while scarlet leaves
spin the eddies in-between
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is eihwaz, it’s name meaning “yew”, is a rune of change and transformation. It represents the cycle of life/death/rebirth and is symbolic of the axis mundi (the world tree). The yew is envisioned as a path towards both the underworld and the heavenly realms. It is associated both with poison and protection as part of its perceived dual nature.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
12 Nov 25
dabbles — folk horror
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
I was invited by Ted (shredbobted) to join his Discord group to workshop some short fiction for cross-promotion amongst the participants. I’m only now getting some free time and energy to explore some ideas; it’s been a busy time for me, or I have been worn out.
A few weeks ago, I cranked out an exploration into an old theme that I wanted to revisit, called “Drifter”. The idea was that there are a group of folks traveling in the “in-between” spaces and using dolmen as doors to try and find their homes back in realspace. After a week, I looked at the first thousand or so words I had written and realized that I’d left the tale completely without an anchor. To remedy that, I would probably have to at least write it as a novella, and more likely as a full novel — neither of which am I prepared to do at this time.
A few days ago, I started working on a different idea, with the explicit intention that it would have a solid anchor prior to getting weird. And the weirdness was going to be quite a bit more grounded in nature. I’m a little more satisfied with this effort after drumming up around 2500 words because it doesn’t feel quite so airy and disingenuous (in places).
(more…)
11 Nov 25

on the ridge

this, i foxfoot mine
under the flint
waiting on rime
this, old ways skein
tangled up on me

here, mosshaired stone
under the rain
waiting on time
here, poppet a pocket
tangled up on line

11 Nov 25

casting runes — 11nov25
hagalaz
```
this crashing down
to shatter against rock
to freeze all ties
...to break

some storms
go that way;
not all can bring
forth gentle rain
```
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.
11 Nov 25

bondage

seeking the heartwood,
i throw off the burden
of toxic positivity and
viral negativity
i cut all flesh to bone

this is not a love song.

gaining the blind
securing the deaf
embracing the empty
i scratch
my rune bones black

all else is bondage

11 Nov 25