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  • casting runes — 06feb25

    06Feb26 | 08.32 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260206.0832
    dagaz
    quiet on the borderlands
    just wind singing fences
    pushing puddles melted snow
    waiting wolves ache to break free

    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.

    tagged:

    dagaz, poetry, rewilding, rune

    filed under:

    poetry
    5 comments on casting runes — 06feb25

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    casting runes — 06feb25

  • Half-penny thoughts — 05feb26

    05Feb26 | 14.46 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260205.1446

    I am probably the only person in the world annoyed with this, but the rampant use of acronyms like O.G. (“original gangster”) for everything and anyone, and G.O.A.T. (“greatest of all time”) bugs me in ways that I can’t express.

    Under current usage, someone can apply O.G. to Bob Dylan for his crossover folk/rock music. And there are bound to be people who are certain he is the G.O.A.T.

    The first (O.G.) was the headscratcher when my eldest used it in reference to the post-punk band Joy Division (active 1976-1980). Having grown up in a neighborhood where O.G. meant something entirely different, I made a scrunched up face to let her know that I was almighty confused by what she had said. “Echo and the Bunnymen” was another band that she labeled O.G.

    Now, I’m lame and out of touch, but I was trying to understand just how Joy Division were original gangsters… She then informs me as to the current meaning, which is applied to when what most people I know will think “old school” will work just fine. The Cure? O.G. goth? Wut?

    Don’t get me started as to how silly “greatest of all time” sounds when you critically think about it. Before, now and forever? Really? Will you even remember the person you called a GOAT in three years? And yes, it is bandied about with flash-in-the-pan personalities even more than long-standing talent of all kinds.

    Am I just an old fuddy-duddy? Or do you find some of these things to be just outright silly (“SIXSEVEN!”)? Are there slang quirks that bother you? Do you really hate it when I say “Groovy, man”? Do I need to get to hepcat and quit being so square?

    Please note: I am not mortally offended by any these things, but they do seem quite silly and absurd in terms of slang developments over the years. Keep comments, should you have any, lighthearted and fun.

    tagged:

    half-penny thoughts, o.g., slang slinging, thinking too much

    filed under:

    thinking
    31 comments on Half-penny thoughts — 05feb26

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    Half-penny thoughts — 05feb26

  • casting runes — 05feb26

    05Feb26 | 13.33 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260205.1333
    uruz
    spring moult, rough granite
    aids to cast off old morns
    gathering on melting snows;
    an amble off to new moors

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

    Today’s rune is uruz. The rune is named after the now-extinct aurochs, a wild ox and has become associated with standing up to challenges, having both confidence and courage, stubborn tenacity, and boundless strength and health. Uruz is alternately associated with the more raw elements which include rain, primordial potential, and the slag/dross cast away during the making of iron.

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

    tagged:

    poetry, rewilding, rune, uruz

    filed under:

    poetry
    4 comments on casting runes — 05feb26

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  • wild horse

    05Feb26 | 07.57 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260205.0757
    with talons in scalp & neck
    with gravel voice inside head
    black blade scraping skull
    within red cedar rising tall...
    someone rode their wild horse
    & that someone was not me

    tagged:

    betwixt and between, poetry, the dreaming

    filed under:

    poetry
    11 comments on wild horse

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    wild horse

  • Twenty years of WordPress

    05Feb26 | 06.52 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260205.0652

    I wonder if I’m eligible for the Dyson bladeless fan or if that’s 25 years…

    [If not obvious, this is an example of my not-very-funny sense of humor. WordPress does not give out anniversary gifts as far as I am aware.]

    tagged:

    20-years, anniversary, WordPress dinosaur

    filed under:

    junk drawer
    35 comments on Twenty years of WordPress

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    Twenty years of WordPress

  • It Never Rains in Southern California — prompted flash fiction

    04Feb26 | 20.32 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260204.2032

    I’ve decided to up my flash fiction output after trying out two of the prompts from Jolene’s site. I need to try and stretch out that muscle and strengthen it a bit after letting it atrophy for a long spell.

    Unless otherwise specified, I am leveraging Google’s Gemini AI to give me daily prompts. I don’t currently know the frequency at which I will actually post the flash fiction developed as a response to the prompts, but probably not on a daily basis.

    In this current series, I am going to explore random subgenres of speculative fiction, fantasy and horror.

    Required Plot Elements (per Gemini)

    1. A rain-slicked neon alleyway
    2. A prototype “memory drive” that contains an animal the protagonist has never seen [edit: I replaced “sunset” with “animal”]
    3. A debt collector who accepts childhood nostalgia as payment.

    Genre: Cyberpunk / Noir


    Someone felt the need to share their affliction for retro-premillennial oldie covers with the alleyway. As if the neon were not headache-inducing loud enough on the eyes by itself, they blared some nonsense song that echoed though the narrow chasm between decrepit brick buildings built around the same era as the music.

    (more…)

    tagged:


    filed under:

    prose
    14 comments on It Never Rains in Southern California — prompted flash fiction

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    It Never Rains in Southern California — prompted flash fiction

  • casting runes — 04feb26

    04Feb26 | 09.07 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260204.0907
    ansuz
    sharp breath intake,
    razor sharp shredding
    everything inside

    an uncaged spirit
    given to fresh singing

    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.

    tagged:

    ansuz, poetry, rewilding, rune

    filed under:

    poetry
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  • undesirable

    04Feb26 | 02.15 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260204.0215
    when they came with
    their rail cars and
    their razor wire,
    will it be a step too far
    then?

    or will you look away
    as you say, at least
    it's not us, it's them?

    tagged:

    bad dreams, elephants in our room, Minneapolis, poetry, resist

    filed under:

    poetry
    11 comments on undesirable

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    undesirable

  • The Bell Palimpsest — a prompted fiction exercise

    03Feb26 | 20.43 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260203.2043
    Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

    The following is written from another fiction prompt from Jolene (Chico’s Mom). On-the-fly, off-the-cuff and keeping edits to a minimum (my personal rules). The required included elements from her prompt are:

    1. Person who never gives up
    2. Plastic surgeon
    3. Secret meeting
    4. Library

    As expected, it ended up like another Twilight Zone reject, and I expect that’s just the way my mind is wired. I may make small edits in the next day or so as I read it with a fresh mind, but I don’t expect anything substantial to change during that time.


    Doctor Eliot Thorne was not a patient man in the best of times. And he was losing what patience he had as he waited for Miss Clara Bell in the candlelit library of her ancestral home in the wealthy end of town. He had thought to ask for more lighting, and had turned to the butler to ask for the lighting to be increased, but Gunter, her manservant, was already through the double-hung doors before he could think to ask.

    (more…)

    tagged:

    flash fiction, medical noir, noir, prompted fiction, pulp

    filed under:

    prose
    9 comments on The Bell Palimpsest — a prompted fiction exercise

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    The Bell Palimpsest — a prompted fiction exercise

  • briar tangled between

    03Feb26 | 13.08 CST
    © 2026

    michael raven

    c: 260203.1308
    Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash
    all that is owned is empty or
    flaking rust from dull razors
    drawing ley from
    rope raw wrist to
    hangman's etching,
    all briar tangled between

    tagged:

    betwixt and between, melancholia, poetry

    filed under:

    poetry
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    briar tangled between

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