Category: poetry

catscratch

with skin kissed in rope burns
and pricked of thorns
sheets stained of summer and
whispers screamed at forlorn

all barbed with catscratch
do you desire anything more?

02 Dec 25

casting runes — 02dec25
dagaz
```
drawn to earth
more than that just under
ragged-hewn fingernails
scratching at blood soil—
toss aside your frame-drum
and follow me down
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is dagaz, which has been translated as “daybreak”, that transitional moment between night and day. By extension, it might also be interpreted as “twilight” and is representative of liminality, transformation, the space between worlds, and suggests walking in both the material world and otherworld.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
02 Dec 25

some kind of old

getting old is when
you've lived too long
after folks once laid odds
on if you'd see
twenty-nine

it feels like
some kind of old
a very steel grey 
kind of day

01 Dec 25

with pictures

i kiss you with pictures
windswept and forlorn
with winter racing across
the unfrozen pond
everything stained scarlet,
pierced pale & bruised black
pricking skin in hoar
to bring bright on pink

i kiss you in pictures
burning as flame draws fire
burrow deep, now
under the root's tangle
bury me deep inside
& draw me ever down

01 Dec 25

casting runes — 01dec25
mannaz
```
flint to flesh
scars to wash the blind
she waits on blood to briar
to staunch the stinging
with her coldstone kiss
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is mannaz, a rune that translates to “man” in the sense of “humankind”. The rune is associated with family and the social order, and in trusting the intuitive process or seeing clearly — both from within and from without. Mannaz influences relationships of all kinds, including those of a romantic nature and encourages compassion, for oneself as well as for others.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
01 Dec 25

to see

this nothingness,
a rope around my feet
marked in stains & aches
burnt remains
sullied & unclean
grasping at waters 
waiting blind for to see

go away cold
i give hills empty

30 Nov 25

casting runes — 30nov25
algiz
```
a new arrival, fresh blood
from unknown lands
with diagrams, maps & charts
speaking as they do up north
while describing my pain

"we must leach the poison,"
he said in my tongue,
"before you can walk
the shadows once again"
```
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 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.
30 Nov 25
casting runes — 29nov25
thurisaz
```
your secret name stippled
across my skin and
scrimshawed to my bone
carved into my heart and
crushed against stinging salt
waves dragging the undertow
```
A poem prompted by a randomly selected Elder Futhark rune.
Today’s rune is thurisaz, which has several core translations: “thorn” or “giant”. The rune is often associated with pain or discomfort (often for an important transitional or transformative reason) or raw power that may be destructive. It is also considered protective, regenerative, and is frequently associated with women’s menstrual health.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
29 Nov 25

casting a glam

ever to changeling
given to folk & cunning 
ever at wild, ever of wode
given to seething & wood

hands see & eyes hear
many the calling beneath
bury the heart under leaves
bury the bone under loam

ever to changeling
given to folk & cunning 
ever at wild, ever of wode
given to seething & wood

29 Nov 25

waystation waiting

at the waystation waiting
on the medicine train 
with a spirit at the wander
all the stars in glittershine
pouring towards winter stone

i've enough of
mirage and mirrors
all sacrificed now in
pressing thorn to bone

whistle calling
as razor cuts the dawn

28 Nov 25