‘the father saved the mountain yonder,
i don’t suppose he was the one of yours,’
she said smiling before she froze
and turned an oily shade of rainbow
opalescent in her age of old
below they craved the market haunt
but through skins twilight kissed i called
down unto a sounding stained wood
thrust out instead of shore
this pain king rides swimming horse
dragging out to the dust of rain
in shattered wrists and waves’ refrain
underground calling all winter hearts
to strike in the below again
i escher etch labyrinthine dreams
& crawl my cobwebbed understair
thumping feet on ceilings,
pounding fists in sand
empty-thoughted screaming
along the promenade while
their long gonnes fire rounds around
bloodsoaked murder in every sound
hammer march, hammer march
one two and two through
swinging scarlet soaks the gloom
and here i am, blind corner sitting
still singing of a time once free
i left wide trails behind
the straight and the narrow
each rock felt under wheel
jolting the wain side to side
with joined pine creaking while
riding down to the last ford
from the up high
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.
though skies still cast iron &
ice still lies scattered
across winter soil
butter spread on doorposts
grows softer each morn
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is sowilo, the sun. Sowilo is the source of enlightenment, for lighting the way and illumination. It is also called the “icebreaker” and gives power to an “attack”, ensuring success and/or prosperity. This rune also represents hope, the light at the end of a long darkness.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.
i read the night braille
a chill breeze raises on skin
all fingertip & firefly slow
with a burning below
while your fingernail
stole away my breath
whisper in crushed velvet
while crickets fiddle
under full moons
all these sharp objects tempting
of the thorn words piercing lips
to suture and to bind and to seal
away razor cantrips in sting
dawnblade dancing broken wrists
to pirouette to pain and thrust
for scarlet upon the snowdrops
at least, they will say, he had good cause
slag cooling in drizzle grey
trampled & gone back to mud
under the muscle ache
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.
tied to sky at bailing wire in rust scent & tainted taste everyone wants to go to a heaven all wrapped here in arms & rags but no one will let love electra
to fall of these
deathshead moth dreams
into something sweet,
but i am so ugly
chapped lips circus
both cowboy clown & the geek
even if you tasted these
i am still ugly
wytching blind corridors...
my putrescine chest
if wee hours to rot
leaves to ugly
hand resting hand
cooling on summer's stones
rising 'round the
wishing well
what do you wish for?
secret, and you?
a smirk, i guess
we may never know
A rune poem, based on an Elder Futhark rune selected at random.
Today’s rune is wunjo, which is translated as “joy” and has been interpreted in both the earthly sense as well as in spiritual ecstasy. It has been associated with healing (emotional, mental and interpersonal) and some sources connect the rune to luck, the act of making a wish, or applied will. Wunjo can also be the inspiration for creativity.
Please visit my Elder Futhark pages at sceadugenga.com for additional interpretations of the runes based on multiple references and personal reflection.