Running With the Wind

Running with the wind,
My will unfolds:
No more guilty fighting
Locking me in irons;
I’ve turned the rudder
Away from fear
To unknown lands
Without a name,
And if a reef should breach my hull,
I’ll smile as I sink.
At least I sailed instead of mired,
At least I lived a little,
At least I lived--a little. Read More......

Meteorite

God’s electric fingertip
Sparks the sky.
A star leaps forth,
The rainbow of night,
An arc of promise,
An arrow of light.
What defines the shooting star?
Its apogee above,
Or the crater of its fall? Read More......

Sleep Paralysis

I had my second major sleep paralysis episode last night. Whereas the first time I was being crushed/strangled by a female demon, this time I floated above my bed, observed by an alien or a ghost I could not quite see.

If you've experienced sleep paralysis, you can report your sensations at the Waterloo Sleep Paralysis page. The website also offers detailed information about sleep paralysis and its connection to narcolepsy and other disorders. There's also a great paper called "Nightmares from the Id" that posits that the usual sensation of terror associated with sleep paralysis is caused by the amygdala's threat-activated vigilance system, or TAVS. Read More......

Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor

Not that Wikipedia is the best source, but accordingly, this beautiful piece is a "neo-Baroque composition popularly attributed to the 18th-century Venetian master Tomaso Albinoni, but composed by the 20th-century musicologist and Albinoni biographer Remo Giazotto and based on the disputed discovery of a manuscript fragment from Albinoni."

Ah, those sneaky scholars!

The only thing that could perfect the melancholy music would be the angelic yet vulnerable voice of Sissel singing words that change their meaning with each reading:

Weariness consumes me
Longing pursues me
Tremulous I fear
All I seek is near
Onwards with fear I go,
with fear I go

Sweet golden days are passing
Lost love everlasting
Wretched and torn apart
Bitter and broken of heart
Onwards with courage I go,
onwards I go

Spirit of life, live on, in me a friend
To guide me on, on to the end
Yet sure and slow
The years will pass, Adagio

Silently imploring
Hopelessly adoring
Yet my will is strong
'Though fate decrees me wrong
Onwards with hope I go,
with hope I go

Greater griefs have found you
Now happiness surrounds you
I hold you here in my heart
Safe with me, never to part
Onwards forever I go, Adagio
Onwards I go Read More......

Plastered to the Floor

Ground

grabs my breath.

A song, falling:

music of the dust.

I rise in my thoughts

and sing without weight.

Read More......

Fantasy Fic and Moral Decay

Check out this article on The Decline and Fall of the Fantasy Novel over at blackgate.com. Theodore Beale, who writes in the diverse genres of economics and Christian speculative fiction, argues that the bulk of modern fantasy is a symptom of societal decline. I have noticed and blogged on many of the points he mentions: ambiguous morality, excision of religion, uncreative political correctness, etc. But it's really the comments below the article that will make your brain sing.

Incidentally, my incredible twin brother sent me a link for another Black Gate article on the realism of female warriors, also by Theo. Read More......

Goodnight Dune

As part of my auntly duties, I have read "Goodnight Moon" half a dozen times. I'm sure some mothers have passed the one hundred mark. Thanks to Julia Yu, there is now another option. Called "Goodnight Dune," this Herbert-inspired alternative speaks to the sci-fi fan in many of us. Perhaps it has already made your e-mail rounds, but if not, enjoy.

Please read it now. Read More......