“Is it on?” Darkness was all he saw, silence was all he heard. “Is it on?” he asked again. A small particle of light could be seen in the distance, there was a “bzzrp” electrical sound. Suddenly light and color filled the air a second before an immersion of sound. “It works! It works!” he shouted excitedly as he looked around at his new surroundings. Huntington Park was alive with life. Birds sang in trees, people walked past him. Food vendors called out looking for hungry patrons. He rushed to the hot dog vendor and ordered a hot dog with everything on it. When the food was handed to him he took a big bite expecting to taste the sweetness of ketchup, tart of mustard, and savory of a roasted weenie. Daniel’s delight faded as he tasted nothing in his mouth. He tossed the meal into a nearby garbage can. He set his mind on the path that winded through the park. A sign in front of him seemed to glow instantly. He walked toward it and read the writing, “Park Trail 6”. Glancing to his right he saw the path he was looking for. His joy returned to him as he started jogging down the path. Roller skaters whizzed past him, people on bicycles rode past. Some waved, others were more interested in where they were going than who was on the path. Soon he reached the sprawling lake that was at the center of Huntington Park. There was a rental booth, decked out in yellow aluminum siding. You could rent paddle boats, fishing equipment, and storage lockers, among other things. He watched a man teaching a boy how to fish at the bank of the water. Far in the distance he could see a young couple in a paddle boat doing circles as fast as they could. Probably trying to create a current, or waves, or some other nonsense. “It’s nice isn’t it?” a voice next to him asked. Daniel was quite shaken by the experience as he looked over to see who had snuck up unexpectedly. It was a teenage male, dressed in a logo t-shirt and jeans. He smiled at Daniel causing his monolid eyes make creases in his bronze skin. “It really is the Utopia they market it to be.” he waved his bronze hand around. Daniel said nothing and glanced again at the man teaching the boy to fish. “Well if you get bored in here, my name is Austin Greeves.” the teenager offered out his hand. “You can find me any time.” “Don’t you sleep?” Austin laughed and then walked away. He tossed his skateboard to the ground and skated off in the opposite direction. Daniel hadn’t notice the skateboard earlier. Maybe he just wasn’t paying attention.
Author Archives: Arcane Cognition
Pathway to Destiny
The crowd screamed and pushed against the line of soldiers with glazed over eyes. The soldiers were keeping a small semi circle of dirt clear in front of a platform that stood about four feet from the ground. On the platform three people surrounded by soldiers sat in chairs. Mark sat in a chair in front, Casandra and Dybin sat in chairs behind and to either side of his. Mark Chasarue sat disinterested watching the spectacle.
A man with black matted hair was brought out in metal chains. He was dirty and malnourished from being in the prison cell for a month. The robe he was wearing was white when he first arrived in his cell but now was a reddish brown.
Larso Denkan looked into the cold gray eyes of the blonde man on the platform. He knew he would find no mercy in them, they were as cold as the steel they resembled. His recent decisions began to flash into his mind, the reason he was here. The chain of events that had led to this.
Things had been bad in Toolay for a long time. There was no work, there was no law, there was no help of any kind. Rumors were spreading of this new world, a land of plenty. People there had lots of space to move freely about, there was plenty of food to eat, and soldiers to protect them from those who mean harm. It was a dream come true to Larso who had to fight for everything his whole life. So he rushed to the most beautiful woman in the village, Mara, whom he had loved since he first met. He asked her to join him in the new world, he promised her she would never have to struggle again. They married quickly and fled together in a boat and arrived with thousands of others to this new promise land.
When they arrived it was not as he had hoped. Too many other migrants had arrived with his same dream, and with them bandits and outlaws looking to fleece the new world. They had no place to live, and no work to go to. Mara became bitter and resentful towards him, at least back in Toolay she had land to farm for food. She was with child when they arrived in the new land, and had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. A baby girl who cried day and night, and would not be comforted. A baby that cried like all the babies cried in the migrant encampment. It cried because it lacked safety and security, warmth and food. The baby never stopped crying.
Larso couldn’t take it anymore. Everyday he went with a hundred others to the square and looked for work, but there was never any. He begged alongside the widowed and orphaned for money or scraps of food. Mara, who was once the most beautiful woman in the village was starting to look more like an old shrew. His heart broke, his spirit broke. He saw the sellers in the square, the baker, butcher, fish merchant, all of them doing well while he starved and lost everything. The resentment and jealousy began to stir deep within him til he decided to strike out.
He took a loaf from the baker, but the baker came after him with a knife. Larso wrestled the knife away and stabbed the baker, killing him. Then he took what money the baker had on him, and the bread he stole, and ran back to Mara. Mara screamed when she saw the blood, he was a monster to her. She fled with the child into the migrant encampment, he never saw her again. Two days later the soldiers arrested him. All he could think of was Mara’s beautiful face, twisted in a scream of horror as she clutched their child close her. He missed them so badly every part of him was filled with sorrow, at least they were not here now to witness this.
The Game
It was dark, in the immediate distance. A bright white light illuminated overhead, I could feel it’s heat like a naked bulb. In front of me was a small round card table, the top covered in green felt, the stem made of polished dark cherry wood.
I reached out and glanced at my hand. Perfectly oval, bright red nails extended from long, slender fingers. Fingers that reached out like spider legs from a open ended, ruffled trimmed fingerless glove. The glove itself was some sort of dark grey denim, with a machine sewn seam perfectly centered on the back of my hand. A white ruffled eyelet lace protruded from the top, and the wrist. I turned my hand over to glance at the palm. The ruffled lace was machine sewn into a white cotton liner on either end. The grey denim had dark grommets, with a black satin ribbon crisscrossing over the liner. It was tied in a neat bow near my heart line.
My black hair fell to the side of my face into my peripheral vision, it was cut short just below the ears. The hair fell straight yet looked like humidity had caused minor frizz.
I glanced down at the corseted top I wore. It matched my gloves with the exception of the midriff part made of black leather. The dark gray denim fit tight and kept my posture straight and perfect. I could feel the bottom of it near the sacral chakra and the top just above the heart chakra. The white shirt came up over my cleavage and covered it, white ruffled eyelet lace trimmed it almost like a ViVi collar. The sleeves ran down my arm and reached just to the inside of the gloves, but they were cuffed with a single white plastic button.
Then a light came on across the room and to the left. There sat a man behind a table identical to mine. He had a thin oval face, his cheeks slightly sunk in giving him a ghoulish, ghastly aura. Smooth, thin white hair fell limp and lifeless under a black top hat sporting a light grey band. A thin long scarlet feather behind a single normal sized playing card, you could only see the blue designed back of, were tucked into the band on the left side.
He wore what looked like a black formal dinner jacket, over a light gray vest with black buttons. His white undershirt bore the same eyelet lace as mine, only his sat high upon his neck. I tried to see his eyes, but they were shadowed by the brim of his hat. He wore black leather gloves, though they only extended past his long bony knuckles so only a third of his fingers actually showed.
There was no background, there was no floor or ceiling. There was nothing but darkness, and the two of us.
Because I Have To Let You Go
It’s so quiet here since I made the choice,
it seems so strange without the chaos,
the silence no longer echos your voice,
or the fighting and anger among us.
I wonder what I am to do with my time,
The empty hours stretch to fill,
So lost and alone yet everything in line,
if my strength can uphold my will.
I will not miss your phantom touch,
nor your imaginary embrace,
not the romantic words you use so much,
to try to keep me chaste.
I wonder what I am to do with my time,
I look at my unfulfilled life,
So lost and alone yet everything in line,
knowing I’m not your wife.
I struggle now with a war in my soul,
to end this unhealthy relationship,
I pray I have the strength to let you go,
so I may see the end of this.
I wonder what I am to do with my time,
The empty hours stretch to fill,
So lost and alone yet everything in line,
if my strength can uphold my will.
6-5-2015
The Fight
You’ve been here too long, this life is a bore,
You make the very art of living a bore droning chore.
We’ve done everything together, nothing here can be New,
we’ve explored every nook and cranny, there’s nothing left to do.
then the fight starts, because i start to see
something that is not you, something that is Me.
you can’t let me escape, even though you despise,
all of my hatred, and all of my lies.
The first strike, seduction, oh what i am worth,
How you worship the wonderful day of my birth.
Everything i am, everything i do,
holds a special meaning to you.
but i prevail, to tell my tale…
Your second strike is much more deep and detailed,
into my mind you will seep, my train you’ll derail.
you’ll fracture my thoughts and reality,
and make me question my sanity.
lest i should prevail, to tell my solemn tale…
My ground is unstable, the horizon is gone,
i have only the memory of it to carry on.
You feel justified as i watch you smile,
to get it back will take me a while.
while you prevail, to tell your tale…
of how we were always meant to be,
how can i be so blind not to see?
who can Love then turn their back,
and not expect this big attack?
But i am not moved, i tire of this song,
we’ve been at this party for far too long.
and now i want something different, something new,
now i want something that is not me and you.
5-4-2015
My name is “Alone”
I woke up in my bed today, to the ticking of the clock,
the silence here screams loud as words, the day is going to start.
“Alone” my name is branded on everything I do,
every single day here there’s a Me but not a You.
Alone I bathe, I eat, I sleep,
I drive to work, alone I think.
At lunch there is a table of one, waiting patiently for me
I feel them passing by and staring, at the animal that is Me.
I live out my sentence in Solitary without parole,
in a land with no governor to pardon for my soul.
Alone I walk, I sit, I dream,
alone I do, do everything.
In the evening I return, to the darkness and silence,
to sit alone and contemplate, why did I try this.
“Alone” my name is branded on everything I do,
I live everyday where there’s a Me but not a You.
11-18-2011
Attackers
I know she holds within her, your very fragile soul.
Your heart, your mind would not exist if she lost control.
I do really love you, though in those nightmare days gone past,
You tried your best to kill me, to be the lone one in the cast.
My heart, my soul, my love, my life, I am your everything,
Without the breath within my lungs never again will you sing.
Now I watch your storm as you muster to survive,
I know my broken body isn’t up for this ride.
You smile as my attackers number four and five,
That I will be too weak and have to keep you alive.
I know she holds within her, all your dreams and hope,
Without her constant approval there’s no way for you to cope.
I do really love you, but in the hellish dreams you cast,
You tortured me to no end and sacrificed my past.
My beauty, my hair, my quick thinking wit,
Without my heartbeat there will be no more of it.
Now I watch your storm as you muster to survive,
I know my broken body isn’t up for this ride.
You smile as my attackers number four and five,
That I will be too weak and have to keep you alive.
I know she holds within her, all you despise and hate,
Without her attention your whole life would dissipate.
I do really love you, though every time I try to dream,
You preach to me of Mine until you make me scream.
My steadfast reserve, my humor, and my will,
Without my thoughts, it’s you I intend to kill.
Now I watch your storm as you muster to survive,
I know my broken body isn’t up for this ride.
You smile as my attackers number four and five,
I will never be so weak that I have to keep you alive.
1-18-2011
Rejection Slip
Your prose is much to flowery, your poetry way too dark,
We like your rhythm and the rhyme from which you embark.
We can not market such depression or the word Alone,
Though we appreciate your understanding of loneliness to the bone.
Your words are too depressing, your verses too macabre,
If you continue to write this way, as a poet you will starve.
We understand the words you write, that many feel this way,
We can not sell all of your sadness, despair, and dismay.
Write to us of happy things, give us all some Hope,
Make us smile, make us laugh, try to help us Cope.
Try to change your dark metaphors into songs of light,
We don’t need to be reminded of how we lost the fight.
Your prose is much to flowery, your poetry way too dark,
Though we like the rhythm and the rhyme from which you embark.
1-18-2011
Original X-roads-2003
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The Weekend Before Cop-mas
it was the weekend before Christmas and all i could see
were tears and destruction, anger and greed.
the decorations they weren’t hanging this year,
because no one was feeling the holiday cheer.
–
the children were protesting and looting the place
with expressions of hatred etched in their face.
and i watched in horror from my living room,
wondering what brought on this season of doom.
–
when out in the parking lot i heard such a noise,
i wondered if it could be one of the boys.
So quick to the window i ran with my gun
to stop this looter from having fun.
–
the moon was smogged out from all the pollution
casting shadows and causing confusion.
then quick as a flash in the corner of my eye
i saw something red and white flash by.
–
the driver was quick and drove with ease,
to the crowd he had to appease.
and when he got out he spoke with command,
“Lower your weapons, and show me your hands”
–
“I come to keep peace, and you have every right
to stand here and protest all through the night.
You say you’ve been wronged and I’m here to protect
each and every one of you, you deserve my respect.”
–
the crowd was not happy, they turned in response,
and tested the law bearer’s deep resilience.
there was so many, and the cop stood alone,
i worried for his safety straight to my bones.
–
then i saw something awful, what did i expect
the anger surged, the cop they were out to get.
i drew my head away from the window curtain,
i didn’t want to see what i knew was certain.
–
the gun shots rang out, the crowd stampeded,
i turned back around to see what proceeded.
and then i saw to my shocking surprise,
a sight that i couldn’t believe my eyes.
–
small children surrounded the uniformed man,
with their silent faces they made a tall stand.
the parents of some did curse and expose,
how dreadful these children were for upholding their foes.
–
they would not be moved and so then i found,
others did gather without making a sound.
the ambulance sirens so far in the distance,
i wondered if they could withstand the resistance.
–
the angry mob pressed in, they wanted to lynch
this innocent soldier would make a good witch.
then to my surprise what more could i say,
his protectors fell down and started to pray.
–
i fell to my knees and found myself joining,
their voices calling out in the early of morning.
we prayed for a miracle, we prayed for peace
we prayed the ambulance would get there at least.
–
and when it arrived, it cut through the crowd,
the cop was then loaded and then it got loud.
they punched the vehicle and made petty threats,
about how every officer deserves what he gets.
–
and as the vehicle drove off with sirens a blazing
i listened to the crowd and all of it’s hating.
and as the ambulance rolled out of sight,
i thought merry Christmas to all…. and to all a good night.
12-21-2014