Category: poetry

casting runes — 29apr26
algiz
```
i point tine north
i point tine cairn
my banhus windshorn
amble i, wander i
chalked moors alone
```
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.
29 Apr 26
casting runes — 28apr26
hagalaz
```
reseeding begins
in another spring
giving over to
ephemeral stones
buried within
a transient beauty
```
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.
28 Apr 26

stone flames flicker

time to lay my head
across cool ground and
watch the stone flames
flicker

black feathers fallen
and i lay here blanketed
under long lifetimes
of snow

27 Apr 26

weve gone to stone

weve gone to stone
to stone we go to
sit with trees all
alone, weve gone
to ground & gone
to home under the,
under the oak alone

blind weve gone
and also the blind to
see the winter winds
to dance the moon
under her skins
pale the endless
song.

24 Apr 26

wood-mad

become the wode
be as sunspecked stone
a pond as the frozen
while antlers tied
at ribbons red...

i let turnings go
hearts carve to spades
wergeld flows to bone
our bloodstained hands
kiss press of oak

there is only knowing
when those everythings
have been known

23 Apr 26

we call

it is of voluntary derangement
in the where of eyes suture eyes
and mouth fed on dirt from
under ash, bone and oak

dare you the wood at night?

past the broken homes and
vast underhalls gone to echo
where have their songs gone?

you only have to sit in
shadow to know and

we call it other

23 Apr 26

casting runes — 23apr26
nauthiz
```
some bonds lack ropes
no chains nor jailer keys
a razor's liminal edge
betwixt a world and me
```
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is nauth i z, which has a core meaning of “need”. Alternative translations have been “hardship” or “constraint”. Among other interpretations, nauthiz is seen as a indicative of a transition or transformation, a period of learning or strengthening of resilience, lacking, change, and impermanence — inclusive of other related concepts.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
23 Apr 26
casting runes — 21apr25
mannaz
```
with eyes returning
to campfire's flickering
old grey relations welcome
back without performance
to sit without a word to say

sharp skull the tap
wake up wake up
he croaks today
```
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.
21 Apr 26

stones become doors

strange days when a fiction
confirms a reality and
stones become doors in
the heather on the heath
and ravens give to crows
on the edge of bedsheets

there is not-song in head
and not-fire between
and everything's burning
at the crux of the seams

blink becomes stutter
we give fat, we give bone
we skin give to we

21 Apr 26

box

too simple for words, and so
i point towards the moon
before gathering my heart
folded into ink-etched bone and
send it in a ribboned box
to her

20 Apr 26