( via / via )

"Only thirty-eight per cent of Americans say they mostly or completely trust their neighbors, but a 2018 Vermont survey found that seventy-eight per cent of residents think that 'people in my neighborhood trust each other to be good neighbors'..."

"The 'end of a world' never is and never can be anything but the end of an illusion."

― René Guénon (via @isidro_li)

Pale Fire.

"the thirst for another order"

amongst massed · medicine ads
half-inch of haggled · hopesicles
dribbled & i drain · a dram of bile
O let them linger · where my looth fails
this disease of zealots · clenched on the clockface whirl
like a sharing of shelter · in eclipse time

"Before the Eclipse a reminder that Director Richard Fleischer delayed production of BARABAS (1961) by weeks so he could film the crucifixion of Christ against a real total solar Eclipse." (I believe that's Barabbas.)

( via / via )

Supermoon.

"job interview -
a fingernail clipping
balances
at the edge
of the bathroom counter"

--Michael Dylan Welch in Tanka Splendor 2002

Squirming lattice.

"O you psalm of stars, you snow and myrrh" --@illdesperado

Me reading "Boon".

( via / me )

Khar Khulz.

Loo panorama, Rona pool.

Whatever happens, happens.

      "urban camo monument"

   brillig creel
filk clandestine
   all widescreen
igneous scrawl
   broken nest

"Hejinian’s own time on Earth was less the subject of My Life than its source, its medium, its method."

( via / via )

"Those who rule us now are living in accordance with myths created for them by writers when they were young."

"Glenneagram"

dark domain mirkless
mirror of bosk clearing
i find myself swindled
since i've bartered artglut
tell us without tightwad
tizzy it's true wisdom
or let the long wrangle
languish in deep meeping

Desolate Echoes.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." --Kurt Vonnegut

The Quiet Earth.

( via --i watched this happen-- / lanny quarles on Fb )

"The enigma is in itself a seduction and its mechanisms are unconscious."

“Ugh! How many stories about love, copulation, marriage and death already exist, not one of which tells the truth! How sick I am of well-constructed plots and brilliant writing!”

― Sadegh Hedayat, The Blind Owl (via @EverySongIveEve)

"But, for all of his achievements in the last 60 years, the famed author appears to have failed where it counted most: protecting African women."

"in dark domain, a stir"

the lunatic is on the lawn
commencing countdown engines on
whatever this brisk dark makes clear
our time for jouking it has gone
blue autumn · hour of the body
nard of Cynothoglys
& of nothingness trace
this cave of morning · covered with messages
in the burnt black · that is fathom five
enfolded · only the hour eloigns
that holds us here · howling & naked
plucking portents · from the pure void

"You people simply do not know how to read."

( via / via )

"In typical goblin sonnet format (borrowed from human poets), the poem is written in iambic pentameter, but with the final rhyming couplet including an extra, corresponding internal rhyme on the fourth syllable."

write a goblin sonnet about a disturbance in the force, using only words without the letter E

In dark domain, a stir, a shudd'ring sound,
A pulsing shift, a tumult from abyss.
No light, no calm, in chaos now was found,
A twist, a churn, a void's harsh hiss.

From cobalt sky to dusky ground below,
A chaos looms, an ill wind starts to blow.
No solace found, in void's cold grip we grope,
As shadows dance, and stars in anguish choke.

In labyrinth of night, a haunting wail,
A warning cry, a harbinger of doom.
A disruption in the fabric, harsh and frail,
A fracture in the cosmic loom.

Oh goblin kin, with minds so keen,
Beware this force, this spectral dream."

--ChatGpt

good enough, tin man

"They have only 6 digits on their hands, so they would probably have much shorter lines in the quatrains. And given their apparent love of chaos, I think they would not have such rigid rules about the way the parts of a sonnet relate to each other. The poems would most likely have parts that appear to be less connected, more random."

"What’s the esoteric significance of mankind being able to predict great events above the earth (eg eclipses) but not being able to predict great events beneath the earth (eg earthquakes)" --@atlanticesque

Surprise author reference.

( via / via )

"wreath of rakish thorn..."

"I guess I'll never make the mistake of being in therapy during an earthquake again" --@wystandoll

"On his Instagram, Coppola also shouted out a fourth source of inspiration for his passion project–Herman Hesse’s 'unfinished tetralogy,' The Glass Bead Game."

"In days of yore · out of deep Ocean
to the Longobards, · in the land dwelling
that of old they held · amid the isles of the North,
a ship came sailing, · shining-timbered
without oar and mast, · eastward floating.
The sun behind it · sinking westward
with flame kindled · the fallow water.
Wind was wakened. · Over the world’s margin
clouds greyhelmèd · climbed slowly up
wings unfolding · wide and looming,
as mighty eagles · moving onward
to eastern Earth · omen bearing.
Men there marvelled, · in the mist standing
of the dark islands · in the deeps of time:
laughter they knew not, · light nor wisdom;
shadow was upon them, · and sheer mountains
stalked behind them · stern and lifeless,
evilhaunted. · The East was dark."

--from Tolkien's "The Lost Road" (via )

I Give This Bouquet of Stars Where Children Are.

( via / via )

"These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend no good to us."

"this plum tree
is soon to become
prayer beads"

--Issa (via @bashosociety)

What is This That Stands Before Me?

"Then fancies greet each goblin's eye" --Betelguese: A Trip Through Hell

Goblin standing under a waterfall, sepia-toned photograph.

( via / via )

Concrete Bouquet.

"So I have farewell'd Listland's
Landwarder's garth, and Gunnhild's,
Rich in deeds (I'll draw no
Darkling veil to hide them),
As that some three thanes there
Of Hlokk's thriving rowan,
In Hell's huge dwelling,
Hell-gone, end their goings."

--from Eddison's Egil's Saga

Music & Movement.

"Boon

Heat-weary head · the humid morning
moves with mounting · menace into day;
dims the deep woods, dulls the skyline.
Sullen, slow-paced · sisterhood of haze
hover hang-breasted · hairy over fields,
fill with forthcoming · flood and thunder.
Thirst threads earth · in thin rootlets,
reaches restlessly · rock-branched for water
waiting for weather's wild-handed boon.
Breath, a first breeze · brightens aspens
airy, easy. All at once dark
dour-faced, driving, day's burden
bursts in a blind flash · blunders among trees,
twists over tops, tears bits away.
Outgush, Earth-hammer · issue of gods,
grandeur that gives · and grieves, magnificent."

--George Johnston at Forgotten Grounds Regained

Green Shield.

( via / me )

Which medieval elephant are you today?

"Sun is ill.
A fog is all:
a cosy away,
a way all lies.
I rain, I arise.
I’ll lay away, away...
So, call as I go.
Fall is in us."

--@MerlinaAcevedo

Walking excavator.

"No one asked you to write. And no one will care if you stop."

--George V. Higgins (via @seventydys)

The creepy "Occult Surrealist" landscapes of Dutch painter Johfra Bosschart.

( via / via )

"A lot of American hopelessness, despair, cynicism, and defeatism is so tied to the inability to trace the arc of change."

"like priests and goblins shake the pews with censers" --Joyelle McSweeney, Death Styles (2024)

A Prayer That Will Be Answered.

"your fingertips
caressed my skin as if
reading by braille
on this dark winter's night
how felt the written word"

--an'ya

"...let’s not talk about public and private anymore; let’s talk about intimacy, which transects public and private."

( via / via )

50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.

wan sickle moon
lore of the Old North
reacher for a lip brush fallen

The South Downs Paths of the Dead.

"Asking ChatGPT to write me an essay called 'the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction' " --@exhaustdata

Found this crazy thing on my hard drive.

( @abandonedamerica on mastodon / via )

The Origin of the World.

"Dishonesty accrues in our bones like lead or mercury." --@buffalo_wallow

In Strength Sweetness.

"glimmer matte"

invasive churn chiselled
chalice of silence milestone
fortified by frailty
affix thy beam, dreamer

"One source stated that human personnel often served only as a 'rubber stamp' for the machine’s decisions, adding that, normally, they would personally devote only about '20 seconds' to each target before authorizing a bombing — just to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male." (via @_ryanruby_)

( via / via )

"...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts..."

"pilgrim silverfish trace"

not a firn-clad morning
but bright cold & tholed more
caffeine sends its brainwave
straighteners work cirqueward
& liquid glare shackles
yield distinct their tinctures:
never again raven

"It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots."

They were good at imagining things that didn't actually exist.

Scores.

( via / me )

Headland.

"NOTHING IS SACRED (Anagrammed Lines)

Nothing is sacred:
the gods in cairns,
and gnostic heirs;
once-hiding stars
and echoing stirs....
Nights, scored in a
sigh constrained."

--@Anthony_Etherin

"But what about the Elves who didn’t obey Oromë’s summons to Valinor – the ones who stayed behind at Cuiviénen?"

"ordered days, disordered skies"

stark cove · to a cold start
unequal orts · answer the yellow light
breaking brambles · where the brumous neumes
dissolve into zygote ash · zeroing out
& wrixled woirds · row upon row
accumulate calmly · in the starting cold

"His revised second edition of his Sonnets book (published in 1984 and dedicated to, of all people, Ronald Reagan) continued to insist that Lanier was the Dark Lady..."

( via / via )

Descendants.

"Are We Not Drawn Onward, We Freer Few, Onward to New Era?"

taisk tacit · totalizing yearn
walls won't hold · words written on
hitchhiker huddled · hails a driver
the lake left · drenched & dribbling
but fades finally · for night's fool
the strange story · all in our whirl that stays

Favorite Gass quote.

"The entire population of the Roman Empire at its height under Hadrian was about ten million fewer people than Germany’s population today. The whole Ottoman Empire maxed out at about the same population as Texas. The scale of the world’s population explosion boggles the mind." --@AmitMajmudar

Snakey Wakey Grandfather Clock.

( via / via )

"I don’t know where else these presses can go."

"You know how on the airplane if the oxygen masks come down you are supposed to put yours on before helping anyone else. Writing for 90 mins in the morning before dealing with everything else feels like that!" --@rezekjoe

Study for a painting of St Jerome.

"The Runes on Weland's Sword

A Smith makes me
To betray my Man
In my first fight.

To gather Gold
At the world's end
I am sent.

The Gold I gather
Comes into England
Out of deep water.

Like a shining Fish
Then it descends
Into deep Water.

It is not given
For goods or gear
But for the Thing.

The Gold I gather
A King covets
For an ill use.

The Gold I gather
Is drawn up
Out of deep water.

Like a shining Fish
Then it descends
Into deep Water.

It is not given
For goods or gear
But for the Thing."

--Rudyard Kipling

Where to start with Lustmord.

( via / via via @mjohnharrison )

The Tale of the Tribe.

I wanted to fangle a limerick,
But the second line turned out a bottleneck;
      Plus the noise from those slaughters
      Next door simply totters
My wits with despair in full cataract.

-failed merger-.

"I have devoted the first eighty years of my life to philosophy, and propose to devote the next eighty years to another branch of fiction." --Bertrand Russell (via @_ryanruby_)

"The world is too fucked up for us to pretend to be cooler than we are."

( via / via )

Only a desperate situation like this.

"The fire twists the tints of twilight.
Our mistakes move from ash to mist to moonlight."

--Mary Alexandra Agner

There's gargoyles, & then there's dragons posing on the corner of a roof looking back at the sound it heard you make.

"eclipse watchdog"

keep flashing photos · of the before time
this morth mulch · amercing innocents
wanders among unwitting · warriors perne

five green globes · goofily bob
i hit a bad bump · badgered by pollen
my peers pullulate perishing · warriors perne

in my bloodstream blarney · in my bleary eyes sorrow
at the things our thoughtlessness · tharfs transpire
in rancid cerulean rote · warriors perne

Loop.

( via / via )

Silence and Texture.

"spring prayer"

spiralling whoosh · wherry
no whited tomb standing
water tower tango
taking the gone story
proceed knowing nothing
nap of windshield seedfall

something great outside us

"Claw hangs in claw..."

"All Lockhart's prejudices were roused and he rushed to his doom—the worst that can befall a reviewer. He committed himself violently, he betrayed himself completely. He tried to snuff out between finger and thumb one of the immortal lights of English literature. For that failure he has been gibbeted ever since. No one who sees him swinging in the wind can help a shudder and a sigh lest the same fate may one of these days be his. After all, new books of poems still appear." --Virginia Woolf, "Lockhart's Criticism"

Nothing but the slow death of survival.

( via / via )

Timelapse of Europa and Io passing over Jupiter’s great red spot.

"Religious judgements tend to fall into two camps imo—1. experiences with awe and 2. doctrinal alignment. In the first you experience the Other, in the second you experience an echo of yourself. Aesthetic experiences are ones with awe. Doctrinal ones more with resonant ideology." --@buffalo_wallow

The growing number of homeless robots.

"LOCH NESS

Upon the vernal equinox,
when all our fictions come to pass,

a shadow leans across the rocks.
Beneath the water, clouds amass:

a nebula absorbs the loch’s
illusions — hoaxes, dreams in glass,

the jostling haze of history’s whims —
until, at last, the creature swims."

--@Anthony_Etherin

A lovely day for a sailing trip.

( via / via )

Bookish frog gargoyle.

"Freeway Dawn

Stop-and-go traffic staggers along,
bumper-to-bumper past the brink of dawn
till the raw gaze of the ragged sun
   glances off fenders
   and glares on the hills.

The news-anchor’s voice keeps nattering on,
like the humming motor or the hissing fan,
and with rapid pulse an arresting tone
   pierces right through
   each portable cell—

There’s a public listing for this private hell.
But under the brush on bright-edged hills
where pattering feet turn poised by holes,
and high up in haze where hawk-shadows wheel,
   and cloudbanks mirror
   the colors of dawn,

and even where traffic inches and crawls,
another pulse measures patterns revealed
in balance of limb, in breath held still,
   when a moment freezes,
   moves, and is gone

like a sudden deer in the slanting sun."

--Paul Douglas Deane in Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival

gm, wen memecoin → 1/1 szn?

"an essential component of writing any book is wanting to give up on it at various points :)" --@chenchenwrites

"...at the end of his life he was reputedly both a staunch Catholic and a member of the Communist Party."

( via / via )

Night 1.

"2016 was a sad year when April Fool's Day lost all meaning. since then, every day has been April Fool's Day with no resolution in sight." --@joycecaroloates

Not of this world.

“Canticle to the Sun”

Draw the floppy screen frame out
And glide two finger tips across
So what is lightly there will curl
Into substantial fluffy lump
But whether into regular trash
Perchance recycle who can say
It makes a scrape to put it back
And then i may proceed to dry
And while i do so, half my thought
Hovers around the seven dead
Who only sought to carry food
Into the present killing zone
And these were only in the way
Not even that but targeted
And there imagination fails
My clothes grow thinner every pass
Through this machine that all my life
I’ve used to make my wet clothes dry
Instead of hanging in the sun
Which might as well had not existed

R i t u a l.

( via / via )

Dün gece Adıyaman'da çekilen görüntü muhteşem🫶.

eye inflames the moon
as it does to itself-O
you'll never grow old

& we return to that crescent
with strip mining plans in mind

"The thing is, they seem to need less and less of us working as time goes on and they figure out how to stripmine us more efficiently." (Mefi thread with good comments)

"It is very bizarre that human beings have never significantly evolved the capacity to find intolerable the persecution of other people." --@bernardtjoy

Composition 181.

( via / via )

Mystical Rose.

"How many anagrammists does it take to change a lightbulb?

One, but the glow is misty and black. Hot ash. A granite magma."

--@Anthony_Etherin

Sl··p.

"blood of a centipede"

bloodstained normalcy blurs
threatening sky · thriftstore
blogger enthralled

with Grand Guignol spectatorship
spotless spirograph landscapes
& Gethsemane spoonerists

"He even has her passion for cats."

( via / via )

The Higher Throw Weight.

"Rebirth of a Palindromist (palindrome composed in head on walk)

‘Tis a wit I see!
Stone swords parted a vessel.

Motto:
Be born in robe bottomless.
Evade traps.
Drowse not.
See, sit.

I was it."

--@SpoonerRhythms

Advice to a Prophet.

"Can I just admit now that I thought an 'em dash' was named after Emily Dickinson?" --@RoisonCNorton

Junk.