Homer’s The Iliad plays a critical role in Ada Palmer‘s amazing Terra Ignota series, so while I wait for the last book to come out I thought it might be fun to familiarize myself with some of her source material. Knowing only the bare basics of Greek history and mythology, I found this a strange but engaging journey [...]
Attics are awful places, Teeming with dust, dirt, forgotten faces, When I enter, bent double, the uncertain floor Feels false and I want to run Away. Such things collected, here and there, Brought to the edge of narrow spaces We force our lives through, shafts of light Betray openings in history that close In solitary [...]
Absent rings and broken trees, We’ve got our fair share of these. Empty seats and missing words, Taking flight they’re all a blur. When we recall the fall and all the lightened thing within us stalls. When we replant this hymnal rant our next most precious thing just can’t. Separate strides and rotting leaves, We’ve [...]
Three hundred pounds of geodes, Brought back from wilderness, Each with its own secret, Some savory, some sweet, Some blatant, some discrete. Cut them open, one by one, Spill Earth’s contents, cut and run, Build a map of what you found, Out there, Give nature’s mystery a new home, Shut away, Hidden from everyone but [...]
Safety scissors, paper scraps, Fleeting faces, torn up maps, If you cut me out of this, I’ll be friendly, you won’t miss. Stuffed up kitties, paper skin, All these faces look like kin, If you say what you would like, Loneliness will never strike. Sunlit shadows, end of day, Caught you thinking, go away, If [...]
Language is a brushing broom, Sweeps intent and dusts desire, When it first reaches us, so far away, Yet within, the only force we know, Rushing forth from cradle’s cover. Language is a learning lamp, Gathers fuel and sets ablaze, Dark discoveries of limit and loss, Every chance of loyalty and love, Empty echoes on [...]
When I was a boy, my heart broke double, Splintered edges and rough tools, The smell of home made strange, The sound of love distorted, Underwater, Drowned. When I was a boy, that same sound saved me, Caught me in calm moments, Made me whole again, fleetingly, As I waited to be dragged, Underwater, Drowned. [...]
When you go, get gone with grace, Meeting wind, earth, cool and calm, Be light, like you showed me, Cast your crooked smile and disappear. When you go, fill up that space, Churning memory, identity, bits and bobs, Be you, like you showed me, Your ever and only one last time. When you go, take [...]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. Since I know a few of my readers will be eager for news, I’ll start today with a quick update on Charlie’s situation. (For background, please see last week’s journal.) I’m pleased to report that Charlie and his partner arrived in Humboldt after [...]
Greetings, dear friends of the present and curious citizens of the future. Up to this point, these journals have focused almost entirely on how my habits and modes of thought have been disrupted and recast by a powerful pathogen. I’d like to take a moment now to reflect on the myriad ways in which life [...]