Category: poetry

  • chaos

    woke up tired
    washed up
    dragged down
    undertow and gone
    rip tide out away
    from shore
    past jagged
    black stones
    piercing waves
    and the ocean
    it pulled me
    so far away
    until i approached
    a ninth wave

    i woke up tired
    washed up
    not needing their
    chaos riding home

  • casting runes — 26jan26

    ansuz
    left to dangle at
    the ol' hanging tree &
    i cannot breathe
    without you
    mouth to mouth

    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. By way of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, the rune is named æsc, which is translated to “ash”, a tree associated with Odin and is representative of resilience and strength.

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

  • casting runes — 25jan26

    ingwaz
    oh sure, they said
    put your head inside, they said
    inside, you'll find a grand surprise

    it was all the rage, & so we did
    one cinch, one twist
    & we pushed dead

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

    Today’s rune is ingwaz, a rune named after the god Ing or Freyr. It is representative of a channeled energy or transformational process. It is also be seen as the male component of life, and therefore a symbol of sexual passions and the contributed “seed” of life (and, therefore, an aspect of one’s ancestral ørlǫg, or fate/destiny). Some interpretations conceive the rune as a symbol of darkness, solitude or dreaming.

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

  • Carving

    Photo by Samuel Quek on Unsplash

    Black sands and dragging blades… Darkstone scattered with bright ice standing. The skies cast grey and still I drag heavy steel, carving sigils through the wave-rippled beach between tides. Some even recall a something of you and your laughter when you forget it should be broken, but the carrion drown out the song with their raucous calls, and so I must strain to hear.

    “You should leave those birds behind,” someone suggests and I remind, “Then there is only spiders, and spiders weave different signs than these.

    “And a fox, when they are so inclined,” I add, an afterthought. That fox has decided to be less inclined of late. So I hesitate.

    Back to: drag and recall, carving both glyph and secret names in those small hours when most are asleep.

    I should be lost, I think. Let them shibari my wrists in wire, lift me on wave and bury me deep. Our heart heavies this hurt just so.

  • casting runes — 23jan26

    isaz
    quenching raging flames to
    let passions give to slumber &
    burn low with eyes half-closed
    embracing winter beauty as
    ephemeral as the dream

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

    Today’s rune is isaz, a rune that is translated as the word “ice”. Sources associate isaz with a calmness, present moment or stillness. As ice, isaz is sometimes associated with standstill, stagnation, stasis or contraction; even at times as pristine beauty with seductive qualities.

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