some strange feelings
come with that fragment
a song not heard since
the late 80s
part is loath to stream it
knowing that moment
of remembrance will
be ruined
the other part wants
to let it play loud
until the kids tell me
turn it down
in the meantime
i fidget with the memory
trying to recall what it is
i think i recall
Category: poetry
sin
casting runes — 31aug26
kenaz ash remains... a smudge over each eye to wipe away a pale veil that lies, hidden of shadow & fey burning brands to light the way
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is kenaz, which has been translated as both “torch” and “ulcer” . It is conceived as symbolic of flame, which is the illuminated creativity as well as the source of purification/healing/cautery. Fire is a a source of transformation and unmaking as well as heat, passion and light. As an ulcer, kenaz can be associated with a fever or inflammation, perhaps a wound which requires healing.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
thunder rumbles through
'the weather is changing,
i can feel it in my joints',
sounded so cliche & quaint
until it became a song i sang
for my own
have you ever just sat with
your pain? talk to it?
embrace it? hold it?
sometimes you can
befriend your pain as
thunder rumbles through—undrifting
a hell-shackled drifter
with hot poison words
burning at the tongue —
were silence always
mine to own
but fire burns in veins
drenched in sweat i
try to sink heat down
ground out the fever
in the name
an exchange in only
shadow, puppet & flame
searing flesh with
each pass of the torch
under my skindrift off
perfect, the rain day falling
over flint and cast as steel
coffee steam rising and
a wish of your here
— and knowing your why
whisper water on pavement
hush, don’t wake up the us
slumber undercover and
d r i f t o f f —then, fade
tucked between birchbark light
and gathered by the bramble
wire-bound his bone heart waiting
lichen keeps no tick-clock and so
the world waited on granite time
before blood was to crack the flow
no gate, nor thorn
no gate, nor thorn
he wound thread taut
around twin thumbs
by which he was
to remember
then, fade andcasting runes — 27aug26
raido a roads are wont to do
this one turned in of itself
back out and wended 'round
so tangled as to tie in knots
with eye turned inside
the road returns constraint
set on a winter path
cluttered in the palest birch
a phantom passing through
the moonlit woodA 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.
him, caught in barbed wire came
chickenwire fox got him
caught in barbed wire
came barking top
there yonder hill
where still the
bonefires still burn
in that iron night of
overcast skies waiting
on for drizzle to
cast off like it do
ungreased axels turn
on the world g’round
have you heard?
have you heard?
an eye for an i
a tooth for the truth
goin’ to set that
barbed him wire to burn
peat dusk, with
flame all but shrieking
set embers on the dawnkissing kittens
kissing kittens
because who can
resist kissing kittens?
i tell them they
are good boys
though both rogues
through & through
because they rarely
scratch & never
bite & the worst is
they are ghosts that
go boop in the night
besides, who can
resist kissing kittens?awake lies dreaming
my sad is dreaming awake
clutching fingers grasping
for threads gossamer away
web memories tangled
of us in winter again
i grew cold since then,
you see, cold left standing
of hollow of tree seeking sleep
when all my awake lies
dreaming
