Tag: betwixt and between

  • stripped

    carving obsidian beyond bone
    scraping down to marrow
    still more: how can you cut further?

    by slipping to shadows of shadows
    to places behind the behind
    kissing flint in the darkest of times

    we grew of flowers once
    we grew of trees, now
    snow stained scarlet...

    stripped to heartwood
    we stand the granite over doors

  • Campfire Sessions — 07dec25

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash

    Something about the campfire and the silent ghosts feels more burden than gift, so I slap my knees to signal that I need to get moving along as we do in the upper midwest, vocalize the requisite “welp” and stand. A few of the spirits turn their grey eyes to me, grant me a lingering look and then those empty eyes return to the flames. Not even a farewell wave then — the winter cold must be slowing them down today. Or maybe it is the daylight’s glare across the fresh snow that makes them blind. We gather in the late morning, although it isn’t without precedent. They prefer the glow of the flames against the backdrop of night, I’ve been told, but they will never turn down a flame lit in their honor if there is one burning in their area.

    I don’t bother with any parting words. Not out of spite, but respect. I am mirroring their inclinations.

    (more…)

  • him, of the cart

    fingers entwined
    we laid side-by-side
    waiting on the fade
    into the morrow &
    wept under pale stars
    burning high above
    our pale hearts

  • to shatter ice

    seething a steel spike
    to shatter ice, to
    strike sparks to stone
    sever sinew & send
    a tattoo to bone

    pierce mine eyes
    so the seeing can begin

    shh tell no one this lullaby it is our secret to own welcome to this razor wire

  • waiting drawn

    cord bound in lace and
    burning wheels
    to find my way back
    to ringwood fires and
    turquoise nights that
    i can never wipe 
    from my mind's eye...

    ragged lips become
    a stolen kiss, there 
    upon empty mounds

    long has waiting drawn
    for her there still

  • another tangle

    Campfire
    Photo by Ville Palmu on Unsplash
    another tangle of winter
    at slick crags open water
    i shed these bones for you

    chisel shadow, wax & stain
    heartbeat heavy slow
    ancestors flow on whisper

    gather flame of heartwood
    collect forgotten songs
    here raises laughter
    here we belong

  • with pictures

    i kiss you with pictures
    windswept and forlorn
    with winter racing across
    the unfrozen pond
    everything stained scarlet,
    pierced pale & bruised black
    pricking skin in hoar
    to bring bright on pink

    i kiss you in pictures
    burning as flame draws fire
    burrow deep, now
    under the root's tangle
    bury me deep inside
    & draw me ever down

  • Death at the Wharf

    Photo by Izzy E on Unsplash

    I was murdered at Fisherman’s Wharf late one night in the month of July, way back when in 1995.

    (more…)

  • to see

    this nothingness,
    a rope around my feet
    marked in stains & aches
    burnt remains
    sullied & unclean
    grasping at waters 
    waiting blind for to see

    go away cold
    i give hills empty

  • casting a glam

    ever to changeling
    given to folk & cunning 
    ever at wild, ever of wode
    given to seething & wood

    hands see & eyes hear
    many the calling beneath
    bury the heart under leaves
    bury the bone under loam

    ever to changeling
    given to folk & cunning 
    ever at wild, ever of wode
    given to seething & wood