Category: writing

  • casting runes — 05apr26

    algiz
    raven wool-gathers
    while hopping through
    puddles, spring rain
    under twist-old tree

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

    Today’s rune is algiz, which may mean either “elk” (there is some uncertainty if this is the case) or yew (Old Norse). It is associated with the Otherworld, protection/sanctuary, and with guardian spirits/fylgja. The unconscious mind is also sometimes associated with algiz.

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

  • exquisite corpse

    and here is the nothing
    this exquisite corpse we've laid
    lines twist on transverse
    turned in upon the day

    a feast upon the empty and
    graves cast within the shade
    in witness to the lonely
    this exquisite corpse we've laid

  • casting runes — 04apr26

    hagalaz
    sleet seeding the ground
    thunder lights tomorrows

    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.

  • On Writing “Vengeance”

    I want to thank those of you who have been reading the first episode of a new writing experiment — or rather, it is an old experiment being approached from a completely new angle. It’s great to get the positive feedback you’ve been sending my way and it is encouraging continued effort on the longer experiment.

    Next week will bring a new story from the stranger’s world.

    A little bit of history and a smidge of road-mapping for those interested in such things…

    (more…)

  • Episode 1: What the Dark Returns, Part 3

    Vengeance, My Heart is a work of serialized fiction. Jump to key story links to read earlier content.

    The stranger stepped back into the gloaming of the desert and the last of the humid warmth sealed itself behind her. As she stepped over the threshold of the Old One’s ruins, those six sand-chiseled eyes watching her emerge from the shadows.

    All six remained frozen in time until the wayward son emerged and they pushed past the stranger to embrace the son and brother they had lost.

    (more…)

  • card face

    in the unbelonging
    a slip to the spaces
    of betweens for we

    sierra in walls, she
    holds court with
    long ghosts unseen

    turning all her
    cards face up...

  • casting runes — 02apr26

    fehu
    accumulations cast away
     two arms unburdened
    of decades of weight
    & heavy no more

    A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.

    Today’s rune is fehu, which has a core meaning of “cattle” or a more generalized “livestock”, which was a representation of personal wealth or earned prosperity. Sometimes luck played a role. Wealth and prosperity was valued, but was looked down upon when material accumulation appeared to be excessive, greedy, miserly or turned to hoarding, especially when those around you were lacking.

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

  • Episode 1: What the Dark Returns, Part 2

    Vengeance, My Heart is a work of serialized fiction. Jump to key story links to read earlier content.

    The ultramarine-eyed stranger closed her eyes and breathed in, whether to garner courage or in regret for making such a promise, the pilgrim couldn’t decide. Perhaps she did it to center herself. It was not his place to know these things — he didn’t want to know. But he would not refuse such a promise of assistance, one normally reserved for those in a higher strata than he, as it had been sworn.

    The stranger turned on her heel and marched towards the gaping black mouth of the ramshackle remains. Six dust-scratched eyes followed her passage as she stepped from gloam to gloom, the pilgrim’s daughter whispering a prayer that was only occasionally broken by the serpent’s kiss of sand over sand.

    (more…)

  • stagger

    scrapedust to elude
    in widescreen brim
    tilted to sun burns
    peeling lips parched
    & we kiss the stand
    waiting to fall to
    pale lizard grounds

  • Flash fiction from prompts — 31mar26

    Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

    Another writing prompt from my good friend, Jolene. Must use all 4 elements, not allowed to kill your main character:

    1. lucky underwear
    2. clown school
    3. Person who asks what nobody ever asks
    4. person who did something bad a long, long, time ago

    I regretted telling my therapist about the lucky underwear. Sure, it brings me luck. You know what I mean. They’re good for increasing my chances at winning at meat raffles, make it easier to score some digits from the ladies at the bar, helps on loot raids with my guild… that kind of luck. They aren’t my shield, for chrissake. They just make me lucky.

    But she insisted I use them for therapy. Ugh.

    “Are you wearing your lucky underwear today, Steve?” she asked at the far end of the strip mall where she had asked me to meet her.

    (more…)