Category: poetry

  • games they play

    i hate these games they play, i
    start cutting up the words
    start cutting up the pieces
    and stare with heroin eyes
    smudged and kohl, waiting with
    torn fishnets gutter drenched

    i teardrop the rain and ruin
    waiting for the day you
    feel these barbed wire kisses
    humming on the wind
    for the day you understand
    the words i cut to pieces
    with steel from heroin eyes

  • casting runes — 01jan26

    raido
    this stony road rambles
    back to the beginning
    a beggar's blind
    under low riding clouds
    rain pelts grey to black again

    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.

  • mystery home

    a smaller world i found today--
    catseye azure in my palm
    stained in beartooth red,
    trimmed in carbon and coal 
    painting what i sought 
    to know

    river washes over ford
    time washes granite
    carrying the mystery home

    Be careful for what you seek, lest you find it.

  • casting runes — 31dec25

    algiz
    we walk without even whisper
    under a vast tree
    some to sacrifice an eye
    some to learn to see

    growing laughter above —
    knowledge that all choice is moot
    for the gathered conspiracy

    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.

  • breaking

    streetlight flurries
    these early hours
    wordbroke, we gather slush
    chuck it gutterside
    pretending we write
    something breaking ice