tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65362752023-11-15T13:15:50.098-03:30Filth of the StarsPoetry about stars, physics, love, cosmology, romance and the strangeness of being alive.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-41725713614430442552016-12-27T15:32:00.001-03:302016-12-27T15:32:36.893-03:30Demagogues in the Starry DynamoIn the dark even the stars bleed,<br />
wake in the morning to find your head dislocated<br />
8 million kilometers about the galactic centre<br />
useless information now but soon -<br />
soon the human seed will sprout dreams<br />
to an expanse with no seams,<br />
no ancient chorus;<br />
<br />
Now only the dull underroar of fear,<br />
currents and forces be damned,<br />
all foam and fizzle, all distances forgotten,<br />
facts and figures kidnapped by electromagnetic pride.<br />
Show me a brain ready to move,<br />
accepting the inevitability of change,<br />
and I will show you a brain, as all brains must,<br />
orbit the galactic centre like bullets in the MRI,<br />
like fluctuations made of machine dust.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-89797856954025210102016-03-23T16:27:00.001-02:302016-03-23T16:27:59.725-02:30The angrier we got the crueller our god had become.<br />
I am ISIS, vengeance incarnate,<br />
human minds brought to inhuman ends,<br />
all gentleness forgotten,<br />
sand spitting from our mouths,<br />
all bombs, all blood and endless bounty<br />
beneath a cold uncaring moon.<br />
<br />
We are a family of ghosts,<br />
ankles and hands already beneath the steel oceans<br />
We are the Pharaoh's plague amidst broken beams,<br />
God is here, can you feel him?<br />
There is nothing else to feel.<br />
And when we cry Allahu Akbar<br />
our parched throats shake,<br />
and the dead will rise,<br />
picturing the eyes of a mad God.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-71962340788725607752015-10-25T02:06:00.001-02:302015-10-28T15:31:58.084-02:30The sound of cells multiplyingGive it trains and give it steam<br />
give it every waking dream<br />
throw in the coal,<br />
throw in the mind,<br />
and watch the furnace blaze and blind.<br />
<br />
If one can love then all can hate<br />
the safest place on earth is plates<br />
floating on fire.<br />
<br />
Gasoline and ATP,<br />
the huddled hug she saw me breathe,<br />
twisting and twisting in the telomere train.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-45721280600398611962015-04-14T16:06:00.004-02:302015-04-14T16:07:29.477-02:30New AgeWe had forgotten our prayers to the machine.<br />
When we woke it called our names,<br />
and nothing we said or did mattered<br />
unless we were entertained by fake glass<br />
which were miraculous mirrors to no where<br />
and no one really knew how it all worked.<br />
<br />
So we prayed to the machine for love<br />
and a billion human animals stared,<br />
like empty headed cows chewing cud,<br />
forgetting what it is to feel skin<br />
crash through the sky against crystal glass,<br />
april snows melting on the way down.<br />
<br />
So we prayed to the machine for life<br />
and it gave us absolute abundance<br />
so what is there left to do now but sing praise?<br />
Hail the endless fog of lights<br />
And let us grow the machine,<br />
to meet the needs of the growing machine. Amen.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-70785682488581615202015-04-14T16:06:00.001-02:302015-04-14T16:06:10.792-02:30RealityVerses, movement, sound and heat,<br />
we learned the rules, we took our seat<br />
and now everything we know is a dream.<br />
and I thought I knew you.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-32857411366736025642015-03-27T05:12:00.000-02:302015-03-27T05:12:22.289-02:30Every PrinceThe history of this Earth is greater than anyone could ever know. Empires, wars, disease, extinction. Every prince and promised ruler, every nurtured child, every poet and mystic and scribe, even every soldier has shaped the cultural tapestry of the human spirit, much like the molten mass of Earth was shaped time and time again by the ceaseless procession of fiery cosmic waste. What will you contribute, Rooc? Will you whisper your words, or burn like fire?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-39423878314636827642014-11-20T17:24:00.001-03:302014-11-20T17:24:36.191-03:30reverenceThe machines of man are moving mountains.<br />
The sacred sky is shifting sands<br />
into the crystal castle monuments<br />
the city scape you're sitting in<br />
built by crushed stone and glass.<br />
<br />
We are the light bringer<br />
the tiny stars fusing fast,<br />
the earth's dark surface glowing,<br />
birthing cells inside volcanoes,<br />
stark and empty tundras,<br />
twisting hurricanes and blue<br />
so much precious blue.<br />
<br />
predators, prey and precious compassion<br />
are in the warm winter dens<br />
of mice and men and machines<br />
and I am overcome with loving you<br />
the undulating folds of sky<br />
that are under your skin and mine<br />
touched and electric<br />
tracing the neck bones, the soft lips, the thigh<br />
<br />
what mad and beautiful god<br />
could unfurl a creature such as this<br />
from some light and crushed hygrogren?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-13205163092747747852014-08-12T22:23:00.000-02:302014-08-22T00:12:36.339-02:30Rage GentlyIn your big dodge truck, pumping the gas and singing,<br />
hymns a lost lover taught me kept me from clinging<br />
to that Thomas poem, but the words furled in I felt alone,<br />
saying light should rage and rage and rage<br />
even as the grey sky pooled and moaned.<br />
<br />
Mom and me in the ward, we were shocked and weaving,<br />
hymns about mercy made me cry as tubes were leaving<br />
from your mouth, but no poem about death could leave it out,<br />
saying light should rage and rage and rage<br />
even as your skin cooled I had doubt.<br />
<br />
Dad and me on the deck, gazing at stars and dreaming,<br />
the boat he showed me love with the wet sun screaming<br />
splashes to the moon, but no dream could swoon the memory to last,<br />
saying light should rage and rage and rage<br />
even as the fog rolled through the past.<br />
<br />
In your mom's big church, saying words and reading,<br />
gospel sighs I showed them love with my voice leading<br />
out to all the stars, but death cared nothing for us you fell hard,<br />
saying light should rage and rage and rage<br />
even as they shovelled ground to shards.<br />
<br />
Even though our rage was ancient sky<br />
I knew our shards of light could never die.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-63964148947342360632014-08-10T19:48:00.002-02:302014-08-10T19:48:19.981-02:30Not PoetryIf there was a land of peace where empathy gave each mouth a hearty piece of dreams, would we hate still? Jews and Arabs are the same damn people. A hundred generations ago your grandmother was the same. Several thousand gens and we are all related, all sharing family descended from the same grandmother and on and on until the eon we evolved empathy because it gave us an edge over life without it, because feeling for one another increases the chance of our own survival, and yet now we fly our machines and click our buttons and drop bombs and think ourselves rational creatures, but nature is more logical than any petty justification or creed, and it demands we feel each other's pain. Who are we to deny a billion years of history, because a few thousand of conflict taught us to pretend we're the monsters we hid from in burrows while learning to love our children? The monsters are dead now. And so too will humans who pretend to be them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-48423806027532058232014-05-28T15:25:00.000-02:302014-05-28T15:25:48.473-02:30EarthquakeAnd when you tore out the roots of pain<br />
I read them and a mountain had moved,<br />
rocks tearing scars into crevice.<br />
<br />
But then you took the roots,<br />
calmly passed them out to all attending,<br />
tortured umbilical cords to the past.<br />
<br />
Did you just do that?<br />
Did you just lie with your belly up<br />
bark bursting to stars<br />
hoping no one would hurt you,<br />
while the molten swash under our feet<br />
threatened to swallow<br />
every god damn ounce of innocence left in us?<br />
<br />
Life is so vulnerable here on the crust.<br />
The least we can do is share our roots.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-88240084784138509132014-05-09T13:07:00.001-02:302014-05-09T13:07:00.782-02:30AthenIn the space between our sighs the night had opened<br />
and you were needing the empty air.<br />
I had given it to you before.<br />
The stinging comfort,<br />
The safety of ages past when we were wild grass.<br />
But now the wind had turned us out.<br />
And over ambient gusts,<br />
starving for photosynthesis,<br />
We still had light to giveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-16688035125699732482014-03-12T06:44:00.001-02:302014-03-12T06:47:14.149-02:30CutGentle I said:<br />
She strangled bruises with her mouth.<br />
I remember my tree cabin<br />
and how the peeled bark died,<br />
so smooth when it first came off.<br />
I traced it for hours, like your skin.<br />
But it pains to watch you.<br />
I want to give you your bark back,<br />
but somebody already scaled it away,<br />
slice by slice.<br />
Now you sit alone and do it for them.<br />
And when I see you tremble<br />
all I know to say is gentle.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-9279397710897448982013-09-15T16:52:00.002-02:302014-03-05T22:33:00.902-03:30City Lights Out Of The FogAnd every bit the air slows down<br />
the curl of leaves and ripened red<br />
could leave us shivering in the morning<br />
could leave us mourning for the dead.<br />
<br />
But all the moons and planets,<br />
and lights that touch our toes,<br />
kissed us then in silence,<br />
on heads attached to granite souls -<br />
Now we are island refugees<br />
of the sacred that still glows.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-38830892127313954512013-09-15T16:52:00.000-02:302013-09-15T16:53:51.284-02:30Remnants<div>
So this is not a poem. Just a note that I lost all of my writing in a hard drive crash. It's hard to believe I didn't back any of it up. Except for a few copies of the work on my novel, a poem published in an anthology, and a poem published in a literary magazine, this blog is all that remains. The surprising thing is that beyond the initial sting I don't think losing my old work will bother me too much. So without further complaining, a Rudyard Kipling poem I quite enjoy:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"If you can keep your head when all about you</div>
<div>
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,</div>
<div>
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,</div>
<div>
But make allowance for their doubting too;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,</div>
<div>
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,</div>
<div>
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,</div>
<div>
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;</div>
<div>
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;</div>
<div>
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster</div>
<div>
And treat those two impostors just the same;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken</div>
<div>
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,</div>
<div>
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,</div>
<div>
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can make one heap of all your winnings</div>
<div>
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,</div>
<div>
And lose, and start again at your beginnings</div>
<div>
And never breathe a word about your loss;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew</div>
<div>
To serve your turn long after they are gone,</div>
<div>
And so hold on when there is nothing in you</div>
<div>
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,</div>
<div>
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,</div>
<div>
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,</div>
<div>
If all men count with you, but none too much;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can fill the unforgiving minute</div>
<div>
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -</div>
<div>
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,</div>
<div>
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-63139602951764748642013-07-25T03:24:00.001-02:302013-07-25T03:24:29.174-02:30CocoonThere was a fire under our dreams.<br />
When we woke our skin was scars,<br />
our eyes were scales of wax,<br />
our wrestling arms the kindle,<br />
and every softly spoken word the wick<br />
of weathered kindness.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-21841381375480349112013-07-03T02:26:00.000-02:302013-07-03T02:26:51.662-02:30BondsWe had come out of the mossy fog<br />
dreaming of being ourselves,<br />
whatever it is that we are.<br />
<br />
Shivers of air and current<br />
between our fingers and foreheads flowing<br />
out into the black of space<br />
between our skin and eyes.<br />
<br />
When I was a child I knew<br />
a smile was a new born fusion,<br />
and when we dreamt<br />
we were born again<br />
with our heads down in the grass<br />
whispering dramas<br />
in the leafy pews of god.<br />
<br />
Have I lived before or have I always been with you,<br />
Even before our bodies were molten merging gas?<br />
Were you there with me at the beginning?<br />
Will you be there when I breathe my last?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-89235623098804776852013-06-23T20:41:00.001-02:302013-06-23T20:50:35.141-02:30New Prologue - rough draft<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The patterns of two animated
shadows pondered over the fires. Embers flickered up and left the patterns
shaking as if by an invisible musical instrument. They were at odds as they
often were. The dark had crept into their bones and the sounds of the forest
swam against the words in their mouths. The shadows were men.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Boy, you will be the next
Earthseer. There is no more than that to it. Can you feel the flame?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Of course I can. It fucking burns.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“When you have mastered the gifts
as I have, you will feel only the Earth which means you will feel everything.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“I’d rather just be normal. I’d
rather just eat and hunt and get married and go to sleep every night with a
woman. Is that so much to ask?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“You are not a man, Rooc. At least
you won’t be for much longer. Desire is something an Earthseer has no use for.
You must follow the path of the Cychu.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“It’s not fair that I can’t choose
my own job. What if I ran away? What if I joined another tribe?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“They would use you as our tribe
would. We are who we are, Rooc. You are the next Earthseer and there is much I
will teach you. Now put your hand back on the fire.” Rooc reluctantly pressed
his fingers against the campfire and felt the searing pain clawing up his arm.
He screamed. The Earthseer held his hand in place as he struggled. “Quiet your
mind! Feel the flame become a part of you. It is a part of you! What is there
to fear or desire? To be pretty, to not want to die? I will die, you will do.
All there is between the veil of a rock and a song is us. The eyes and ears of
the universe. Do you understand?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Y-yes! Gods damn you yes!” Two of
Rooc’s fingers had begun to blister. He curled into a ball and cried in pain. “You’re
fucking mad old man, and your religion is bird shit.” The Earthseer gave him a
solemn stare, the kind of stare that says with no uncertainty that another word
from him might mean his death. “I’m sorry…. Sometimes I’m just tired of being
different.” He held his hand like a mother holds a babe. The Earthseer sighed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“When I was your age I felt the
same way. I’ve given up a lot to see what I’ve seen. Listen Rooc. I know you’ve
heard the stories of the origin of man from the entertainers, but I will tell
you something almost no one knows. Outside of the Great Forest are lands of
untold wonders, and unspeakable horror. The gods have shown me because I have
the blood, and so do you.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“What can be outside the forest?
You mean the sea, right?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“No. There are demons and man
beasts and rumbling machines. There is smoke and where the beasts congregate
there is always light and fire and hideous stone caves hundreds of feet high.
They consume the world and soon it will consume us too. I am old and will be
dead soon, so this will be your inheritance.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Well thanks. The monsters are
gonna kill us all. Alright, what else is there?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“There are many worlds and many
histories. There are many gods and some of them claim the sole divinity. Don’t
you want to know why you have the dreams? Why you can feel the Earth?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“I’ve never thought of it before.
It just is.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Nothing just is, Rooc. You have
the blood. The blood of the Cychu. Long ago the gods left this world, left
their bodies and ascended to a spirit realm. The last of them had children. We
are rare but we are strong in the blood.” He waved his hand around through the thick
of the brush back towards the village. “The temple houses the gods. When I die
my spirit will go inside and I will join the realm of the gods.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“You have got to be kidding me. We’re
Gods?” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“I am a God. If you can master your
blood and don’t die, perhaps someday you will be one too. Now put your hand
back in the fire.” Rooc still groaned for his blistered fingers. The last thing
he was going to do was put his searing hand in the fire again. He jumped up to
make a run for it, thinking his teenage agility could outrun an old man. The
Earthseer caught his foot and tripped him over a log. He pulled him mercilessly
across the dirt and stones as Rooc clawed desperately at the ground, screaming
as the skin of his fingers peeled off against the stones he gripped to. The
Earthseer pinned his head against the fire and pushed his arm down into the
embers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“Can you feel the flame?” The
Earthseer asked, emotionlessly. Rooc screamed.<o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-77126448636379348142013-05-23T14:37:00.002-02:302013-06-23T20:42:15.483-02:30Chapter 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Somewhere in the darkness the leaves rustled like
sharp knives. It had been thirteen days since Kolux had eaten anything but the
mushrooms of the worm. He could smell the dew drop from each leaf, feel them
cutting apart, the branches bending and crunching. A vast caravan descended
down upon him, the pale moonlight flashing against the drums and blades. The gods
had revealed themselves for this, but what is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The tomb was
completely dark. Kolux had memorized the layout of the temple until he could
smell every crevice and taste the soft tangy metal, until he could hear the
oscillations of his body against the coldness of the stones. When his heart
pumped and the blood coursed up through his brain the floor vibrated ever so
slightly with him. He sat crossed legged, wearing nothing but a simple cloth,
and his stomach growled for sustenance. <i>I
am the Earthseer. Show me, Gods damn it. </i>He tried to quiet the sounds of
his body so that he could feel again the movement of the world. He reached out
his limp hand, grabbed several mushrooms of the worm and swallowed them whole. His
feet spread out like roots and were absorbed into the floor. In his mouth he
could taste a hundred things at once. He raised his head up to feel the blast
of sound strike down upon his forehead.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Forest! There’s
something in the forest!</span></i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The leaves had fallen away. They were not like knives
anymore. They were like a thousand dissonant drums pounding towards him, burning
into the flesh of his eyes. The sky itself lit up. The sun had fallen out of
the air and crashed into the world. The stars had melted away. The people were
crying. <i>No, they are not cries. They are croaks of raw terror</i>. His eyes
loosened into a blaze of tears. The sounds came pounding louder until he held
his hands against his ear drums, realizing that they were bleeding and falling
away from his head. The sounds had merged into a roll of thunder, a giant shock
of light and then the endless darkness beyond. The birds were all dead, or
fleeing the light of it. In his mind the coming darkness was a rolling stone,
building momentum, unstoppably getting larger by the second. He screamed with
his might to push the stone aside, to give his tears unto the vision, to let
his body flounder into nothing to shatter the boulder but it would not budge,
and the force just pushed him aside like he was nothing. As the stone rolled he
could see the grotesque faces carved into the curves. Would all that he had
loved and lived through, all that he had ever known be undone by this fate? <i>This is as it will be</i>. <i>The cycle is coming to an end, and the Gods
alone will stand in judgement.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The tomb of the temple around him began to glow and
resonate with the roots that were once his feet. The light was coming from
within! Fifty years he had spent learning and practicing the rites of the Gods,
many of them spent in the darkness of this room reflecting on their purpose,
and it was only now that he finally understood it was the temple which had been
the poison all along. The sister he had ignored, the wife he had rejected for
the sanctity of this place had all been for nothing. The dark dreams, the
endless anxiety he had suffered to favour the world beyond; all this time it had
meant to destroy him. He felt his body begin to dissolve entirely and let out
an epileptic scream.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The large boulder that blocked the tomb had been
removed from the hole in the wall and light flooded into the space. Instead of
burning it felt pleasant on his eyes. He opened them, finding his hands and
feet intact. Was this the afterlife? Zalek and Tandal stood before him. Kolux’s
mind quickly raced back into the stones his skin touched. The world had not yet
ended, but the forest still swallowed the drums and he could hear them in the
trees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Earthseer, do you know what time it is? Get out here and
eat something now” said Zalek, standing tall and looking worried in the
silhouette of the door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I will”, he said simply. Standing on his two feet for
the first time in nearly thirty hours, he limped out into the light of the
temple. The temple proper was surrounded in a smooth metallic rock that seemed
to deflect light at all angles, while beams from outside shoot through small circled
holes in the wall. The light on his skin made Kolux’s body appear disjointed
and broken into small pieces. The light beams gave a sparkling aura to just
about everything else, even the simple wooden fixtures, and the dull stone
statues of the bird Gods that circled the perimeter of the room. Zalek tried to
hold him up as he walked to the wooden table with fruit laid out for him and
bit into a ripe banana. The color yellow seemed to bleed into his mouth. The
floor tipped slightly, or was it his head that was off angle? He tried to bring
himself exactly upright to no avail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If he keeps going like this we’ll end up carrying him
around on a tree bed” Tandal complained. Kolux hated it when they talked about
him parentally as if he wasn’t in the room, but he was above such trivial
matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Quit your babbling and get me to the altar”.
Obediently they helped him limp out of the temple and unto the large stone
altar that served as the religious centre for dozens of tribes all across
Zenoria. Kolux’s head whirled about, his eyes blinked rapidly. Above him the
first milky stars of the evening flashed and grew larger in the sky against the
red and purple horizon. Their cores bled into the encroaching black. His mind
seemed to drift effortlessly out into the worlds beyond. He could feel the mad
stone faces still rolling towards him. He jerked his body left and turned to
Tandal. “Get me a barrel of the black. Now.” Just as he was about to question him
Kolux’s body began to shake uncontrollably. Tandal climbed down the altar to
find the barrel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> The table at the altar had his
clothes already laid out. He donned the feathers and the blue and green paints
and dressed himself for the first time he could remember in weeks. He realized
he still could not feel his feet. Although when he looked down nothing was
amiss he knew they were still attached to the floors of the infested temple,
his whole body dissolving down into roots and life paste. But somehow still his
form was here, the blue paint across his cheeks, the plume of the Earthseer
donning his forehead. He felt like a ghost. But the ceremony must continue. He
must do what must be done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Where is Rooc!?” the thought
occurred to him suddenly. He should have been here by now to help him with the
rite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Did he go off with the hunters
again?” Tandal asked as he climbed back up over the altar with Zalek struggling
to tip the barrel up right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “He was tending the gardens last I
saw him” said Zalek. <i>If Rooc is missing
he’s in danger. As childish as he is, he’s never been a boy to shirk his
responsibilities. Gods grant me the fortune to see him again before I am gone.</i>
“But Earthseer what do you want…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “Silence! You said my name. Now
trust me to do what is best.” Both Tandal and Zalek nodded reluctantly. Finally
the altar had cleared and he was standing alone before the growing congregation
below. The fires had been lit around the temple and the bodies of the people
seemed to glow and undulate into one large mass of light. Dozens of tribes had
come to listen to the rite. The words began to rumble from his chest. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “The cycle is established at the
mouth of the face of the Gods.” Somehow he found the strength to lift the
barrel of black and began swashing the black thickness across the wooden
platform. “My arm is the vessel of the black of our ancestors” He marched into
the temple and splattered the statues with it, scowling at each of them
individually. The Eagle mocked him with its sharp predator eyes but he had
blinded it too with the thick. Only when everything had been covered did he
return back to the altar. There was confusion and murmuring within the orb of
flesh that was the audience. “The settlement of the Cycha shall take place
here!” He held the barrel up over his shoulders as if he was holding the answer
to every question anyone had ever thought to ask. <i>Everything returns.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Out of the forest the first glimpse
of the giant stone had emerged, but it was in the form of a hundred smaller rocky
beasts enclosing them from all directions. The stones had the faces of man but
they were not people. As the men of the tribes drew their bows the stones plummeted
into their chests within an instant and many fell crying out and bleeding into
the air. The people were crying. <i>Is this
what I had seen? No, it is only the beginning. </i>The stone creatures shouted
in alien tongues. They presented captives and he spotted Rooc among them. <i>Oh Rooc. What have you done, my son?</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “The Iron bear shall come!” The
stones flew into the barrel and shattered the wood. The black poured down upon
his head, and he knew then that the temple had already consumed him. The stone
faces rolled towards the altar like a pack of dogs chases prey. “The silver
eagle shall come!” The vibrations in his body began to resonate with the drum
of stones, with the pattering of the dogs come to destroy him, with the temple
still humming the tether that binds him to the world. Half a dozen beasts had climbed
up unto the altar and pierced him with their drums, their faces contorted with
hunger. Kolux had drank the last of the black and turned to face the stone. He
stared with authority and disgust into the twisted mouths and red eyes, and spat
a mouthful of black at them. “The ancient Kaj shall come!” With one swift
thrust the remaining pieces of the barrel were flung into a torch and the
temple lit up like lightning. The dogs
had been set to the fire, letting out guttural moans. Others stood back in
retreat as the fixtures of the temple splintered and the flames crawled into
the wood deeper into the temple. Kolux returned to his position on the altar.
The flames had reached his feet and were crawling up and up, swirling in his
stomach and into his bones, but he was in other places too. The pain was
nothing compared to the terror of the rolling stone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “It is the word of Gods. The Cycha
shall come.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-80206245350748587502013-05-19T15:13:00.004-02:302013-06-12T11:42:27.525-02:30Mortal Music<br />
You fell in the dark and I couldn't catch you.<br />
My wings had been clipped by the bard.<br />
And when I sang to you of suffering and longing<br />
you just held the pain and let your jaw clench hard.<br />
<br />
I did my best to hold you in my sickness,<br />
but the cells just stuck to you like tar.<br />
And when I took the belt and loved and whipped you<br />
you were like the birds that birthed the stars.<br />
<br />
If I could take the tar and feathers<br />
and douse myself in guilt and gasoline,<br />
could I listen to the trill and tender?<br />
could you have been my Mary Magdalene?<br />
<br />
But then I took the nails and hammer<br />
and pounded wings into my flesh<br />
and when I thrashed and blamed the maker<br />
my blood danced with mercy into mesh.<br />
<br />
So now my dear you see I am no sacrifice.<br />
Everything I've built I've made with song<br />
and when I cry for love or loss or loneliness<br />
I'll hymn and know it's right where I belong.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-36487359492301700542013-05-08T17:26:00.001-02:302013-05-08T23:16:15.382-02:30You Gave Me To The Sea To Swallow<br />
You gave me to the sea to swallow<br />
and it curled my form into hard granite stones.<br />
The waves of fear and guilt and broken bones<br />
are shallow graves of men I could have been,<br />
but the light foam still gives me butterflies.<br />
<br />
You gave me to the sea to swallow<br />
and it cracked my joints into long crooked coves.<br />
The surge of fever and bed and judgement droves<br />
are hollow stages filled with fish nets and bad debts,<br />
but the wooden creek still makes me yearn.<br />
<br />
You gave me to the sea to swallow<br />
And soon I gave it all I borrowed.<br />
So for fucks sake now,<br />
let me swim.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-25346249997072279132013-04-24T00:51:00.001-02:302013-04-24T01:49:28.686-02:30Astronomy of Love and Loss<br />
The planets tingle down the spine.<br />
Is it the cold eye strung to light<br />
or the furnace of madness spitting dust<br />
into shapes of us?<br />
<br />
Your love burned me into man.<br />
Is it the morning gravel sigh<br />
that made your lips a fusion gold,<br />
or the cavity it left in my chest<br />
when I knew the stars had been a lie,<br />
the space between them cold,<br />
undreaming?<br />
<br />
Your death froze me on the stand.<br />
Is it the night we dreamt of boats<br />
under a flourescent moon<br />
or the words dripping from my tongue,<br />
or the noises that my spirit sung<br />
when the tubes fell in your throat,<br />
when the warm pulse had left your heart,<br />
when the constellations fell apart<br />
and heat and cold were all the same<br />
the patterns of our bodies lame,<br />
even as they shivered<br />
in death<br />
and splendor?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-24109547679906274582013-04-18T18:39:00.003-02:302013-04-18T23:38:54.487-02:30Like my Father<br />
I have seen the honest man shake with rage,<br />
eyes lost.<br />
I have seen the liar cover eyes to safely gauge<br />
the wisdom streaming down,<br />
the rotten teeth the plastic crown,<br />
the empty car whose engine revs and idle drown<br />
the noises in my mind,<br />
the phantom of his voice dead<br />
but the headlights still shine.<br />
<br />
I have seen the weak foundation,<br />
I have seen the cost of fear,<br />
I have seen the courage in the man that shifts the gear<br />
out of the rotten roots of road.<br />
<br />
Now here safe from shadow,<br />
I am ready for the heavy load.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-66480863855639584462013-03-26T17:24:00.003-02:302013-03-26T17:24:27.583-02:30Depression<br />
If you had rolled and pit me into nothing<br />
could I cry now for my father who bleeds his love from the grave?<br />
If you had shut up my words, closed my eyes for sleeping<br />
could I stay up, with a novel unfurling, a song on my tongue?<br />
If you had given me to chains and doubt and loveless<br />
could I love with a fierceness to blind you<br />
from others who feel they are less than a beautiful moon?<br />
<br />
Shine on me now shadow moon.<br />
You are powerless before me.<br />
I know now what you seek to do to my lips.<br />
Know now the girl whose time I wasted,<br />
know now the endless days I tasted<br />
nothing<br />
was a sacrilege,<br />
a heresy,<br />
a mockery<br />
of light.<br />
Now our lives twist about like aurura borealis,<br />
and I'll make sure you know even the stars whisper our names.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-1164140605324730372013-03-22T16:20:00.000-02:302013-03-22T16:20:02.745-02:30DreamscapeMy father fished with gill nets<br />
while ships the size of his nightmares<br />
dragged the sea bottom miles<br />
before destroying the floor.<br />
<br />
Regardless of location,<br />
every Newfie dreams<br />
of the way it crashes and swirls,<br />
curls up a rock and splashes silver foam,<br />
leaves the surface for dry<br />
only to hit it again.<br />
<br />
Another stage sinks,<br />
one loses a floor board<br />
that somewhere will board up a window.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6536275.post-75061664551995293782013-03-22T16:17:00.000-02:302013-03-22T16:17:31.107-02:3011 Dimensional Universe Of Non-Localized Waves(a homage to Kurt Vonnegut:RIP)<br />
<br />
The bees eat pollen<br />
The bears eat meat <br />
They all mix together <br />
in a single beat.<br />
<br />
The spin moves faster than the speed of light<br />
the bird flies further than a mach 10 flight,<br />
instantaneously.<br />
<br />
High, high, very high<br />
The universe can never die.<br />
<br />
The sea eats rocks<br />
The men eat song<br />
Life is too short,<br />
Life is too long.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com