DEAD MEN TELL TALES

There was no blood, he said. He said there was no blood. That it was a pale, milky white and had ghostly green eyes and algae-ridden hair. It was buried in the weeds before him, reaching out to grasp him. It was clinging onto the life of the frozen lake, yet still and forgotten forever … Continue reading DEAD MEN TELL TALES

WIND

8:13 PM A woman stands a few yards away from the ocean with her toes neatly tucked into the sand, as if grounding herself to the Earth out of fear she’ll run or float away. The shadows cast by the setting sun’s alchemy with the dust in the sky make her stark nakedness hardly discernible … Continue reading WIND

“ADUMBRATIONS” – “EVENING WALK”

Adumbrations In his book On Analogy, Julius Caesar advises us to “Avoid strange and unfamiliar words as a sailor avoids rocks at sea.” My wife had a smile-shaped scar just above her pubic mound from a Caesarean. How beautifully torn, I thought, and rose into the sky and flapped away, leaving a mysterious future gap … Continue reading “ADUMBRATIONS” – “EVENING WALK”

A STATEMENT

At the foot of the forest, where clouds settled on the leaves like linen sheets and the birds balanced on the tips of dying branches, a building - alone and pristine, was swallowed by the horror of it all. At night (it was always night) the intruders crept inside the home that smelled of bleach … Continue reading A STATEMENT

D-DAY IN SINKLAND

My daddy served in the war. My daddy’s daddy served in two wars and won a medal for his bravery. My daddy’s son (me) served his prick twice a day, every day, for 29 years. My daddy’s son (me) served himself another helping of hamburger meat and mashed potatoes, three times a day, every day, … Continue reading D-DAY IN SINKLAND

THE TOUR GUIDE

Here, as you can see, the ground begins to sink and form the perimeter of a shallow bowl. The monument of the Great Architect stands where the land flattens out and spreads south in an unbroken swamp. I stand outside the gateway, between the mansions that once housed the middle managers who worked in the … Continue reading THE TOUR GUIDE

SUBURB IN YELLOW

There’s a dad named John, wine glass heavy in hand, peering through blinds, marking the progress of his newly bought yard roomba. It cuts in the pattern of an emperor’s garden — the kind where he invites his guests for a party, they wander down its paths, and find that he’s been burning prisoners at … Continue reading SUBURB IN YELLOW

“VISION”

Forking lance of purple fire flowing In the hazes of its victim. Misty carnage Of an old oak rent deep by lightning. Its fibres split and twisted into Labyrinths of gore and smolder. Still standing, in half evaporations, (rain for future children) Where it had for many the small life of man. The farmer’s shade … Continue reading “VISION”

A LITTLE RATTLESNAKE’S THEOXENY

It is said that before the sack of Menegroth, Thingol once crossed a southern desert. There he encountered Eru Ilúvatar in the guise of a beggar, and offered him a repast of dried fruit and meats. The god pressed Thingol as to what he (Thingol) knew of Eru or guessed, then dramatically revealed his identity … Continue reading A LITTLE RATTLESNAKE’S THEOXENY

THROUGH THE BLIND HOLE

The Birth & Death of Autotrepanation I sat at dinner with them once, Linda and me came over and we sat at dinner, and John said, “You fancy getting the trepanning thing done?” I said, “Well, what is it?” He said, “Well, you kind of have a hole bored in your skull and uh, you … Continue reading THROUGH THE BLIND HOLE