Category: writing

  • wire

    Photo by Adarsh Kummur on Unsplash
    to go back to mud
    root in and ashen
    rest awhile & slumber
    winter in the long
    dark come

    this scrimshawed heart
    slenders back to
    a lingering song
    playing on the wire
    in the wind
  • daggers

    all daggers deserved,
    crimson drifts to drain
  • tossing a rune — 11sep25

    ansuz
    to spell you a song
    of under dusk breath
    of under branched canopy

    we tanglelimbs wending
    through winds these twine
    riding old ash tonight

    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.

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

  • restitution

    my jawbone in hand
    waving away at wraiths
    i offer this token for all
    the insults & cruelties

    it is not much, agreed
    but it may yet yield
    glass satisfaction at
    the end of your fist
  • tossing a rune — 10sep25

    pertho
    digging for roots to
    see what grows below
    but there is no
    untangling of that weave
    so cover it back with soil

    A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.

    Today’s rune is pertho, which has a disputed meaning and there is some indication that the ascribed meanings might be corruptions. The general consensus is that there is likely some relationship to ørlǫg (fate/destiny), luck/gambling or hidden knowledge.

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

  • waiting for

    grey fading crabbed hand
    clutching for the only, sleep
    her slow eyes follow, arthritic
    waiting on a sharp grin crooked
    while he shambles thresholds
    waiting for felling to come
  • unforgiven

    Photo by Stephane Gagnon on Unsplash
    destiny is cruel and uncaring
    making itself known by
    streetlight halo wee hours
    leaving restless and waiting
    those wraiths that haunt
    still the night, unforgiven
  • let us slumber

    Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash
    come with me and
    let us slumber and
    dream without
    nightmare or pain
    let our winter
    bury us under
    for long dark nights
    our bones entangled
    skin drawn tight
    let us slumber in
    that everlasting kiss
    and evermore
  • escape hatch

    mouth bound in suture
    arms bound to rust
    untrust flowing through veins
    mortar & bricks mine,
    the real horrorshow
  • in contraction

    in contraction
    pulling back to that
    gloaming within
    shuttering up spaces
    where the light gets in

    shush now