∴ sonder—blades feint
left, right—swift minds fall
parries lost to ghosts ∴
Month: January 2025
spoon
∴ joyous crunch—distant
wayward flakes dissolving
milk drips, soft as guilt
ghost-thin on sullen spoon
soggy, sinking
defeated on the bottom—
of this bowl
lost in hunger’s endless maw
give me!
that resounding thunder
freshly poured
unbroken cereal ∴
collar
∴ sky-treader ronin
exhaling cloud-song
low thunder through misted hills—
didgeridoo drones
undertones swelling, liquefescent
earthen bellows beneath—
bare feet warmed
flares of midnight suns
talks to strangers
shows up alone / a lone—
specter bear, nimbus paws
unraveling right from truth
summoning raven—
collared by new moon’s pull
under yukimi-roof
snow-thaw prints left behind ∴
birthday poem
∴ unctuous winds drip honey
through the heather and the hills
ripe with umbra
nest their riddles
so many things to love
the world reveals
lock-picked mornings
the galumph of beasts
through frost-fanged trails
where keepsakes sleep
tinctures spill their bittersweet
truths into streams
flush with the applause
hearthsong minstrel-birches
the air turns pulp-soft
fleshed with the weight
of something enormous—
this great turning
this day that ignites
frescoes blaze
on the forest-chapel
of the becoming
let us tumble into its open chest
nesting in its marrow
hoarding the embers
of what burns and what remains ∴
fawn
∴ fawn’s tender stance
meets the boom of resistance—
kindness holds its ground ∴
laced
∴ shoelaced lightning bolts—
storms fumble their mighty knots
skies come untied ∴
wrapped up
∴ wrapped up in the wind
veins throb with currents of life
unbroken lifeblood ∴
pucker
∴ frost-cracked soil dreams
loam-grown poems
syllables planting blades
fluid lines furrow and water
seeds buried, flourish in syntax
dods of clod-like soil break open
branches of meaning
gnarled and wild-reaching
tongues that spring, rend, and bind
harrows respire, loosing—
words—sprout—scatter their weight
pucker of earth
dawn-bound, the earth dreams awake ∴
crisscross
∴ crisscrossing charms fly
cauldron’s chortle, sparks ask why
broomsticks skip on sky ∴
archive
∴ archive of ashes
barefoot steps smoldering, found
flame tended pictures ∴
motion
∴ motions meet
solid flow through yielding hands
roots twist, soft and sure ∴
slithy
∴ slithy minds hissing
schemish plots crack, lurch, and snap
idle, we wont wait
dashliously we strike back
through shifting barrows, we rise ∴
rabbit hole
∴ resist her hunger—
his folly, the rabbit hole
tumbling, naive
her grasp—always there, waiting
lost as the prey of her lure ∴
cloak
∴ yesterday, i dealt cards
from a melancholy trove
a solitaire of almost-ghosts
crafters of nether worlds
today, the board reawakens
the dice roll hollow, bare
i laugh—
tilting bone and ivory
tokins (と金) shift in measured march
stones slip through sifted memories
cloaked, yet still they linger
heart of dust
black and red collide—
but my gambit?
a falchion’s roar
that cleaves the dark—
a reckless wager
severing the rules
splintering the play
a rogue’s ember
ravenous in doubt’s thrall
in this unwritten game
how will we carve our marks
into the eddies of yestermore? ∴
labyrinth 2
∴ mountains bow, beasties roam
hopes held in trebly crackles
sharing breakfast with wyrms, we
made from music-tangles
star-dust
and mud between toes
chase labyrinth-ways but never lost
sherpa-ed risks upon our backs
no place for battle-bright that divides
only the beauty
of emptying our cups
in this shared fragile gap
(end) ∴
labyrinth
∴ labyrinth
twists of thought and time unwind—
paths converge ∴
silence
∴ wolf moon
skin flushes under silence—
hunger howls ∴
ice
∴ wan goddess on high
ashen motes crest brittle air
dust brǣðan bare
specters mantel near
hauberks rasp, frost-etched and keen
groves lament their splintered ice
ne quit this chill solace
winds scour the high crag
paring marrow from resolve
winter-bound, we bide ∴
esoteric, use, and tune
∴ we be aches that burn
esoteric flicker-flames
footsteps used in snow
old wounds heavy, soaking earth
caught in smirking storms
patchwork of tomorrow-bones
lick the dark, pulsing in tune ∴
sweet
∴ drunk on the waves, gasping at the page
my pen, a ravenous shark eating its own fins—
lost in a paddle-less dingy of thoughts
my phrases flopping like fish hopped up on
sea-wrath-brew
anchor away, left indents—
the stanzas squirmed loose as
a spilled a bucket of eels into
tide-pitted pools of froth
then, outside of a gull-stained port pub
the lady with the crooked typewriter grin
spun a yarn that sounded like amber breezes
flowing warm from dream-worn shores
i bought those flotsam—jetsam bits
chewed on them, but they stained my lips
sickly sweet and dripping ink
no pen worth its jib was worded well enough
to take the con of this paper
which mocked me with salty curses
then holding its breath, waiting for yours truly to
splash
o
v
e
r
r
rrrrrr
the bow
∴
ask
∴ ask the moon it’s secret name ∴
globe
∴ overtweenround and through
mind’s mountains
cedar scents, these trails climb—
a bear’s pace
paws pressing glow-arpeggio
cry rings, crow—dark omen, winged
casting judgment o’er land ‘n thee
wardbells toll, their knell draws nigh
cobble worn with days, guides bare
each footfall spinning spells
wilds cairn and rune, pine’s call divine—
this hitching want, ancestors’ sign
globe spinning underfeets
ascend, no longer lone in kind ∴
guess
∴ guessing your next go
placed my stones, waiting
you move me ∴
sun-chaser
∴ wisting snow-wanderer
whip-bent in the cold, the truth
wrapped in helix sunlight—
gale’s fingers pull at the hearth-throat
igniting my fire-tear spine
dripping swete
by her eunoia ambrosial mead
withered sun-chaser
bramble-drummer in brittle soil
you carry the weight of the twist-tree
the old ember-tale of
shimmer-fingers breaking the gaze—
pushing through this gelid winter’s squall ∴
vespers
∴ vespers of the screen—
a collective sigh, hoping
wi-fi gods listen ∴
groove
∴ the groove speaks, no words needed ∴
question
∴ questions build
tangled in riffs and fleeting chords
answers in key ∴
delight
∴ we travel in darkness, fierce and lean
kicks that could shatter, fists like steel beams |
a dozen black belts, bodies honed for the fray
training every night, and into the day
we bend, we break, we sweat, we bleed
a collective force, relentless in speed
the city is calling, the clash on the way
but something’s amiss as we move through the day |
a tune in the distance, a familiar sound
a melody catchy, a rhythm profound
and then, in an instant, we’re lost in the air
as Daydream Believer swirls everywhere
each note a punch, each chord a thump
our muscles falter, we feel like we’re chumps
our chi is shattered, our focus undone
by music more lethal than any blow swung
“cheer up, sleepy Jean!” the chorus does ring
and we crumble, defeated, by that earworm’s sting
our power dissolves, our fury is spun
as we sing to the music, too weak to run
now here we are, once macho, now torn
by Daydream Believer, our pride, we mourn
for no matter how strong, no matter how tough
sometimes an old pop song is just too much
delight in the chaos, this unexpected fun
for no battle fought was ever quite won ∴
fight
∴ shadows fought not—peace returns ∴
turning
∴ turning the lights off
stars come out for their big show—
meteors take center stage ∴1
- Although this doesn’t follow the traditional syllable structure in English or the moraic structure in Japanese haiku (I tried to translate it but couldn’t quite get it right), I would argue that this is more akin to a modern haiku in capturing a moment. More importantly, the Quadrantids peak tonight! ↩︎
start
∴ grab your toast, start the car—zooom! ∴
fresh
∴ stoned on bulwarks high
dolent champions fray frost
wind fresh oblations
patched renewals rasp alert
húskarlar feasts, cycles turn ∴