i have given to sacrifice my sleeve
it grows cold with naught pinned
nor sewn
and i have not much need of it
anymore
anyway
having gone to mud
ravens scrimshaw my bone
a stern reminder of place
bound in baling cut flesh
deep
do you recall lace curtains'
gentle ruffle of summer breeze?
this is how the story ends
with whispers & turnaway eyes
under midnight skies
they shuffle from shade to fade
forgetting color & tone
given to ash on tongue
lacking substance at touch
howling as we slip away
a disused, crooked trail
leading from the main
few choose this path
due to hardship, harry & thorn
but crows beckon, call—
it is also the path
of greater reward
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is nauthiz, 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.
riverstone under ice
carved of water, air between
linger now, maple leaf
but unfrozen come spring
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.
We are Slaved of the Riverbound, and so even more stone than they. We are to be culled and carved away to make way for the flow which our overlords assure us is necessary for live to carry forth.
I could see in the guards eyes and with the way he held his crop that he toyed with riding me. There was a gossamer thread between enforcing compliance and wanton thrill, and the guard had yet to decide if there would be his own punishment or glory in mounting me — if my transgressions warranted it, or were it to premature and hasty to act yet. Overly-eager guards were subject to the same punishments as the slaved. Our overlords wanted their workforce compliant, but largely intact and able to work, after all.
(more…)behind storm eye throbbing
of poison thorn years
lurks still blue longings
fading behind washed denim
and duels drawing crimson
over fresh fallen snow
matching ash of her hair in
the brilliance of the rising sun
i will meet you
at the crossroads
crows cussing at the wind
i offer up knowing eyes
you offer up the same
crows still cussing the wind
we both follow the
most broken road
crows silent on the wind
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is gebo, which has a core meaning of “gift”. This relates to all forms of reciprocity: transaction, generosity, hospitality and sacrifice (in the sense of giving up something). It may also mean offering up a talent or skill; or gebo may suggest a synergistic, possibly romantic, relationship.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
i hate these games they play, i
start cutting up the words
start cutting up the pieces
and stare with heroin eyes
smudged and kohl, waiting with
torn fishnets gutter drenched
i teardrop the rain and ruin
waiting for the day you
feel these barbed wire kisses
humming on the wind
for the day you understand
the words i cut to pieces
with steel from heroin eyes
this stony road rambles
back to the beginning
a beggar's blind
under low riding clouds
rain pelts grey to black again
A 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.
Those who have been around here know that my mother was born out of wedlock and fathered by a man whom I only have the barest of information about. While it might have been nice to know more about him over the years, the only real incentive to fining out more about him was the surprise DNA results my mother got back, putting her at 33% Finn, something none of us suspected.
Running her DNA through an algorithm, there was an additional surprise: That some of that Finnish background may actually be Sámi, the reindeer herders of the area. So I set out to see if I could find out more about my grandfather, who’s ghost seemed to be hellbent on avoiding discovery. I eventually gave up the hunt as a lost cause when all roads ended up in dead ends about the man.
Until Andrea showed up in one of my DNA services.
(more…)