A Box Full Of Fog

There was always fog.  Morning, noon, and night.  Thick and cloying; it muted sounds, made of speech a buzz, coated the tongue, and reduced all colors to shades of grey.  Summer, winter, no season seemed to exist under the fog. He thought he recalled a time, perhaps when he was still a very young child, when the sun had shone freely on the city.  It was now little more than a vague, bright disc that did nothing to brighten the fog or to dry the droplets that condensed on his beard. The fog even made its way indoors. It was inescapable, and had been for years.  He was used to it now, and he assumed that everyone else was, too.

In the Night, a Promise

In the depths of the night

In the groaning, tossing, sleepless hours

Soul-shriveling and sprinkled with hate

Sickly stars shine down

On a banquet of my own weakness

Never-ending and without release

 

And what comes next?

Moto-erotica

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I will say it again: if you are of delicate sensibilities, or are otherwise easily offended, I strongly caution you against reading any further.  I’m looking at you, Mom.

alone with yourself

“DUDE.  You know you’re not supposed to look outside the ship when we’re in n-space”

“Yeah.  So?”

“So why do you do it?  You really want to cause yourself irreversible brain trauma?”

The Theory of Oppositions

It is still early days in the World of Mad Science. Principles are yet being identified and tested, hypotheses and theories daily advanced and rejected. We are privileged today to stand silent, invisible witness to one such test, performed by none other than two giants of Science!, before they were great.

#

The triple-layered, fire-hardened oaken doors to the Hanover Brothers’ chambers in the uppermost levels of the Dungeons beneath the Tower stood sealed and double locked. They opened for no one, not even the Dungeonmaster. But the Dungeon Wranglers were not away on one of their epic hunting trips. The iron-bound portal barely muffled a massive but indistinct ruckus; the Brothers were in, the doors locked solely for the safety of the other denizens of the Tower as they conducted yet another perilous experiment in the name of Science!

Lifelines

the       space        between madness      and       genius

seemspassingfine

the      average man       perceives     but   the

 narrowestline

but       those       who      live there      have            something

diff’rent         to say

it is      as       broad       and capacious        as

a summer day

Stories of Youth and Experience – Rules

Children everywhere growing up

are made to acknowledge so many rules.

“Stay out of the street.” “Hold your brother’s hand.”

“Don’t jump out of trees.” “Don’t climb on stools.”

“Stay off the shed roof.” “Don’t run with scissors.”

“Don’t play with your father’s power tools.”

the Great Work

The effluvium of piscine decay was the last scent I expected to encounter as I sat in my favorite coffee shop some five blocks off Salem’s antique waterfront. Initially, it presented as little more than a tickle at the back of my throat – a whiff of something I couldn’t quite identify, but which upset me nonetheless. I became distracted from my crossword without even realizing I’d lost my concentration. But the odor built in both intensity and pungency, until it reached a point at which I could identify it for what it was. It was then that I looked up and saw the thing in the doorway.