Category: writing

  • judgment

    i  swear
    i always intend
    to get out more
    meet new friends
    do new things
    but—

    peopling terrifies me now
    when every word or action
    is a litmus test to
    determine tribal
    affiliation

    it seems more sensible
    to stay at home
    and not subject myself
    to the world’s
    casual judgment

  • half-penny thoughts | 18jul25

    Image of a writing journal and a pencil.
    Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash

    I visit plenty of places on the internet lately for or by writers and I recently encountered this strange theme on one site where all of the writers seemed to all be posting in the theme of “you’re a great writer, keep writing” affirmations for each other. Some were even pretty self-congratulatory (“yes, I like my own posts and I am not ashamed to”). Still others were of the “everyone here is the best writer”.

    Now… I’m not against encouragement. I’ve even partaken in it myself. But when it becomes a common, daily and reoccurring theme… I have the strong urge to pinch my nose and walk away from that kind of community. Even if it is well-intended community-building, it still smells like bullshit.

    Write, don’t talk about how great everyone else’s writing is (and god-forbid, don’t tell me how great you think your own writing is).

    What do you think?

    Am I just being a humbug? Or does it feel like a weird kind of phony? Do these folks really mean it? Or are they just saying it, hoping that others will pay it forward until it boomerangs back?

  • murder

    Photo by Aleksei Zaitcev on Unsplash
    a murder outside and
    a drive-by suicide
    laughing, what a joke

    waiting for red fox
    waiting for red show

    chewing on that razor wire
    where did you think
    you might go?

  • careless memory

    person foot on water
    Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com
    i stone eye see
    wondering at
    the fuss of things made
    while even more words
    make timberfall from
    scythed crescent to
    sunset canyon walls

    no more false assurances
    no more casting out lines
    this tightrope is far too thin
    but this tightrope is mine

    step once a million rivers
    passing over and by—
    careless memory
    carry me to night

  • Campfire Sessions — 16jul25

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    You’re learning, says Raven. A bit soft in the head, but at least you’re progressing.

    I put another piece of kindling in the flames, keeping the fire. It’s fire season in the forest. While there is no big risk of flames causing mass destruction here, of all places, I try to be mindful of the possibility and restrain the firebug inside. It seems like that critter has vacated anyway, which is just fine by me. My inner firebug got me into as much trouble as fun over the years and I’m tired of manufactured crises.

    (more…)

  • catnap

    longing catnap spells
    both eyes draw heavy
    sunlight warms
    my aged face

  • nightclubbing

    Photo by Michael Starkie on Unsplash
    dreaming hazy
    shadowed clubs and
    all smoking cigars...

    you look sexy as hell
    wearing that smirk
    with a stogie in hand

    Don’t ask me who this is supposed to be or where we were clouding up the scene, but this dream lingered with me well after I woke up. Much better than the one about my daughter’s giant pet centipede she talked to in hisses, which is another dream I can’t explain.

  • forest of spirits

    Forest of Spirits card from the “Oracle of the Morrigan” card deck
    even dead things have their wild—
    campfires hold no sway over their
    bone whispers shrouded in mists

    should you shadowwalk with me
    we will slender through feral spaces
    to find our the names and faces
    we wore before we were born,
    or we may lose our myriad selves
    in the fog

    Disclosure: My use of those tools most often associated with divination are largely as randomized writing prompts, often with the intent of personal alchemy. They are not intended to be representative of traditional divinatory practice. My personal interpretations (and methods) will likely not agree with those found in popular culture.

  • all we need know

    standing stones
    Photo by Suzanne Rushton on Unsplash
    she is twin crests
    her rivers run free
    that is all we
    need know

    she is the green
    her cleft draws in
    into the womb
    under cairn

    stone is all that matters
    all words just
    nattering on like
    whispers on wind

    she is wellspring
    that is all
    we need know

  • forgetting

    Photo by Janke Laskowski on Unsplash
    shocked at the shock
    whenever i make the claim
    that forgetting might
    actually be a desirable thing

    or when i claim
    to be forgotten might
    be much the same

    what is memory anyway?

    ephemeral and fleeting
    like a cloudburst in july
    or that first vagrant snowflake
    on a chill october day