With a baneful tear in my eye I must say goodbye to my friends Nibbles and Octoberfest. With much trepidation I chugged down my final one last night. See you next year my fine companions! 2017 has been a good run.
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Dark Deluge
Friendless soul on lucid stroll,
unknown name and pitiful.
Friendless friend I go to meet.
Beseeched on the darkest beach.
Gleaming midnight ocean surf;
heartless from your day of birth.
Your highest arch brings such mournful;
rain upon my shattered soul.
With hands outreached I stand in woe.
The ocean is my only friend
because its heart – will not mend.
On my knees I wait to brave,
the deathly horrid highest wave.
With bellowed pain upon my breath;
I scream out from my darkest depths.
Rebellious to the universe,
my naked frame it will immerse.
God save me from this morbid curse!
Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa Book Series Swept Me Off My Feet
As a person who’s somewhat of an antiquarian with an occasional desire to escape from the modern world I’m always looking for books that will provide that outlet for me. When I first came across Steven Saylor’s first book in the Roma Sub Rosa seres of historical fiction, I was swept off my feet and wished that I could magically step into the pages and observe the events taking place first hand.
“Roman Blood” the first book in the series introduces the reader to Gordianus the Finder, an ancient Roman version of a detective. Living in the city of Rome with his Egyptian wife Bethesda, Gordianus finds himself caught up in scandal and intrigue which takes him deep into the dirty dealings of the mean streets and dead end roads of the city and all the way out into the country side along the Appian Way with its bandits and roadside Inn’s. The reader is also introduced to Cicero, the famous orator and statesman and Sulla the dictator. Ancient Rome literally pops out of the pages in the most 3D and colorful way which makes you wish you could be there.
Each subsequent book in the series finds Gordianus older and a little wiser. The events and people in the stories are all real people and events that actually existed and took place. Only Gordianus and his family are fictional and Saylor finds a way to fit them into these historical events in an uncanny way which makes me wonder if Saylor is some sort of genius in the historical fiction genre. I’m nine books into the series and could read them over and over again. If you have the same tastes as I do then these books are highly recommended.
Untitled Poem
above the overcast city
I hear a slow distorted heartbeat.
played by an unseen drummer;
mesmerized by its allure;
no one can sense it.
and the world seems to…
go by lethargically to me.
hypnotic driven departed ones.
speaking with muted voices;
ensnared in vaporous webs.
mechanical nuisance’s rush by;
luminous in their haste.
observed by people
with faces pressed against
windows of indifference.
pokerfaced and jaded;
with careful steps I walk-
popping dice up in the air.
Haiku Poem One
Trees rustle at night
Shadows dance on the sidewalk
Hair touched by light wind
Very Odd Dream 002
The utter horror and panic this dream caused left me in an emotional state of not being able to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. There was no reason to write it down because I woke up screaming and it was firmly planted in my mind. The location was in my house, the basement specifically. The arrangement of items, ornamentation and furnishing was reality-correct which seems to me unusual as dreams seem to be an exaggeration and a bending of reality. The basement is furnished with knotty pine with a television, couch, chairs and a laundry room off to an adjacent room. I was making my way down the stairs to do the laundry and saw three upright bipedal creatures standing in one corner as if just finishing doing something. They were about 6ft tall and had no hair. Their heads were wrinkled similar to a wrinkled raisin. As I stood there on the steps they looked at me as if I was no threat and seemed thoroughly underwhelmed about my presence and equally unconcerned about their violation of my home. I stood there wild-eyed and screaming as they turned and disappeared into a vortex. I literally woke up screaming as my cat Daisy can attest because she darted off my bed trying to get away from the crazed state of mind I was in.
As an afterthought I will confess that I have occult leanings. If I’ve invited something into my life I’ll take whatever precautions I can to protect myself.
Florida Welcome Center
Me looking like hell at the Florida Welcome Center after driving a rental truck a thousand miles for my neighbor a few weeks ago.
And afterwards I payed a trip to Daytona Beach…
Very Odd Dream
Every once in a while I have a dream that I remember without having to write it down. This one took place in interstellar space. There was a cluster of lights that seemed to possess a certain form of intelligence which piqued my interest and I started to follow them. In a state of extreme cheerfulness I was zooming around following them until we got close to a star, so close that I could literally see the flames along the horizon of the star. At one point the cluster of lights stopped and then dipped low into the flames as if trying to encourage me to do the same. I stopped on a dime and refused to go that low as I would be burned in the flames. Seeing my refusal to descend the cluster of lights came back up and I resumed my euphoric game of following this odd curiosity of lights, zooming around here and there in a happy mood. Then they did it again, they stopped and slowly descended into the flames as if encouraging me to do the same. At this point a cold chill came over me because I wasn’t sure if these beings were trying to help me or destroy me. Was my fear justified or was it baptism by fire into another state of being? I woke up at this point with an uneasy feeling.
P.S. About a year ago while sleeping I awoke to hear a snapping sound in mid-air next to my bed similar to a fire-fly. The same thing happened two weeks ago except this time it was two snapping sounds in mid-air at the foot of my bed.
Majestic Virtues 