i root, now
i sun
i river oak
through
smudge away
smudge away
wash away
stain
i paint, now
i slumber
i stone sit
through
i river oak
through
Tag: poetry
smudge away
Photo by Ginny Rose Stewart on Unsplash tidal
Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash how many ways can you
disguise depression before
it folds back on you
like an injured toenail?
echoes in the pond
ripple only so far before
a tidal wave fallsall bone at song
Photo by pedram ahmadi on Unsplash i shadow as maiden
i shadow as lake
stone waters under
of granite my eye
pock and pit
chip and ash
fleck and form
all bone at song
i blood as my earthing
i blood as my weir
catch acorn when thorn
at river we heartnightwash
Photo by Wes Hicks on Unsplash underwater flowing
over silt and stone
rub skin, stream wash
rub mud, you and me
make land, this flesh
make river, this blood
rub wash, stream skin
rub silt, me and you
can't you hear them crying?
can't you hear their scream?
flesh and blood and silt and stream
spirits in the night—originally posted 23jan2021
I am taking a short break from blogging and have scheduled a few older poems to fill up the empty spaces in the interim.
stride
Photo by HARALD PLIESSNIG on Unsplash mistwalking the waters
she strode, one foot before the next
both eyes set forward
across that mystic lake
that raven-haired nyneve with
her dress flowing back
flesh pale even against the fogoriginally published 06aug2021, w/minor edits
I am taking a short break from blogging and have scheduled a few older poems to fill up the empty spaces in the interim.
our lady of phantoms
Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash were the feral to cast
chalked white doors
handprints, handprints
powder pale worn
singing us under
singing us home
our lady of phantoms
with one last kiss
before dawnoriginally posted 13nov2023; the title is the only modified part of the text
I am taking a short break from blogging and have scheduled a few older poems to fill up the empty spaces in the interim. This poem was originally inspired by the card Mounds of the Tuath from the Oracle of the Morrigan deck.
an autumn stream
remains
Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash my broken fingers
flint at cold fires
wet with rust & remains
rattle old the fractured stones
clacking 'round this
hollow & shattered head
a sleep of ashes
ashes & rust & rain
this cast off dross &
rusted remainsone of a few — 29apr25
beithe paper bark and
fine hair flutters
on the pale winds
chasing ripples
over a secret lakeFor a change of pace, I decided to revisit ogam/ogham for a poetry prompt tool. As with the Elder Futhark runes, I randomly select one of the ogam fid as a prompt for a bit of micropoetry.
Because I have a poorly-developed sense of humor, the title of this post refers to a variant of the word, fid, “few”. While still in common usage, “few” is not technically accurate to describe the letter — but I like my wordplay.
Beithe (in Old Irish, beith in modern Irish) means “birch”. The fid has a number of cryptic meanings depending on the kenning or its inclusions in the medieval word lists of the filli, including: white, pheasant, livelihood, “withered foot with fine hair”, and “beauty of the eyebrow”, amongst many, many others.
I do not embrace Robert Graves’ mystical meanings as I feel they are not based in scholarship and that they disagree with people who have made a lifetime study of the ogam. While there is evidence of possible filli-coding within the letters (per the lists poets were made to memorize), there is little evidence that magical meaning was the intent and the association with magic appears to be a modern invention… But that is another post.
Perhaps I’ll eventually bring fid back and finish my in-depth exploration of their meanings.
surrender
Photo by Sina Bakhtiari on Unsplash i yield my flesh to
the carrion feast —
strip me down to bone
to scatter me to stone
and bleach me to sun
wash away my stain
for i do grow ever weary
