Dark forest of Tao  .  .  .
Black boughs under evergreen,
  .  .  .  Raven wings in wood.

10 Haiku of Raven

        1
black God

Huge cumulus clouds,
Exploding into the blue,
  .  .  .  Shadowed by raven.


        2
valley morn

Dark hands working fields,
Raven tracing mountain crests,
  .  .  .  Carnal tillers wake.


        3
Raven spell

Dark sound raven makes,
Chortles top fir tree, haunting—
  .  .  .  Druids incantation.


        4
unfaithful

Snow covers valley—
Solitary raven staining world,
  .  .  .  Love has turned black.


        5
outcast

Many years alone,
Suddenly— old thoughts of her,
  .  .  .  Lone raven in sky.


        6
mischief

Lone raven cackles  .  .  .
Clouds splinter across the sky,
  .  .  .  Mist cuts down the woods.


        7
marked

Full moon crowns tall pine,
Raven landing in cross hairs,
  .  .  .  Dark angels halo.


        8
Loki

Raven knows a charm,
A child's costume jewelry,
  .  .  .  Colours a black eye.


        9
tall tale

Zenith of winter—
Lone raven in naked tree,
  .  .  .  Spring only legend.


       10
dark angel

In his feathered dress  .  .  .
Raven shrouds beneath the clouds,
  .  .  .  Even eyes are black.

All of this flesh!
Longs; hurts; tear it free!
Light singes the wax,
Cold pressed, inside of me.

Eyes windows of the soul;
Sharp glance, outside knife.
Fear bars and strangles,
Longing for true life.

Every night questions pour,
“Why, Raven, why?!”
His glare catches the mind
With his dark colored lie.

This voice I hear is
Dreading and dark!


Fear, child!
“Flesh. Destroy. Soul!”
“****** are you!”
Light you cannot know!

Weep as you drip dread;
Full, like an unfulfilled crush.
Heart becomes carrion,
“Cursed bird will not hush!”

Sweat washes destiny on my face,
Helpless, bound with mindless ways.
Bloodstream sipped away;
The dark bird preys.

Lies! False vision dark!
There is no voice
Within the Raven
Lies! No imbued hark!

Light belongs, fair child!
Walk in the meadows so fair.
Soft as woolen flax,
As the fairy’s hair!

Hell belongs to devils,
The devils belong to Hell.
Do not be deceived,
By ****** spell!
They offer freedom,
Through Raven flight!
Only descends deeper;
Cavernous night!

Love moves;
Static it is never.
Open your eyes my dear,
Be your heart cleaver.

I am not light,
But light is in me.
Tented with flesh;
I will tear free!

Inhale warmth,
Inhale light.
Exhale peace.
Exhale right.

**** that carnivorous bird;
Raven of night!
Soar like an eagle,
“Soul take your flight!”

1/27/2015
Sean Hovater

I have developed a twitch in my body-brain.
It jerks at my organs and my violet thoughts.
I can control it to make it work,
Use it to dance on your rusted metal cogs.
It's like a spinning tree,
With interwinding pine cones of
Gold that hang from satin branches
He is perched up there again!
Tall and proud.
Not a bird like other animals.
Not an animal like other animals.

I know your most shameful thoughts,
Let me tease out the guilt and despair
Pull it out in worm string from your
Bloodied Guts,
Your gilded towers where you lock them away
Shame on you.
Bell chimes three times: Death call
But blue tears still cling like sharp thorns to brassy plumage
plumes plumes plumes

Frère Jaques, Frère Jaques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?

Slumber not next to the satin tree,
Layered under the shrieks of your old loves
Where they suffer timeless tortures that make your tongue
Taste like fish feed.
Poppy breathed inside his beak-jaw, mongrel!
White faeces stain the satin branches again.
Bloodied, bloodied, bloodied.
Pandora makes you bleed
White faeces.
Leech, your brain is a leech-vampire.
White faeces.

Quick, walk around the tree three times in clockwise motions,
Not like a tick-tock more like the flap of a wing.
Do not forget the tear ink,
Her tears were ink,
they were ink,
ink, ink, ink.
Sink into the poppy field!
Churn in your toxic nutrition
Choke on your reflux
Do not taste.
Do not see.
Do not smell.
Do not touch.

there is a raven who sings me to sleep,
if could,
i'd dream every night.

that abyss of whom i am born,
cradles me in its arms of stars
and heart of clouds.

the moon is my light,
my goddess: lenore.
wings of black soul beating the air of love, forevermore.
whip me a whirlwind.

raven, oh raven, if you could see me now

the hours struck off
faint whispers
within an empty room
nothing im not used to
I lay in bed
the walls began to consume me
slowly closing around me
breathing gets harder
I choke for air
its no where to be found
a pressure
begins to sink upon my chest
theres no easy way out
I look
for an explanation
and everything
suddenly is okay again
a raven
caws in the distance
another soul has been stolen
am i still alive
was it my soul?
I float above my body
maybe I finally fell asleep
and this is only
a wonderful nightmare
my silver thread is gone
I look up
theres no light
i am doomed for eternity
to wander aimlessly
among this god forsaken planet
an hope someone
anyone
will  stumble upon
my now decaying corpse
after all I chose solitude
I chose to be forever
lonely
within these wall
and now
it was my fate
no chance
to ever change
it"ll be more peaceful this way

1

The chards rising.  Am I the praying bird?
In the gleaming sun my bones are negative,
My flesh a cypher walking through the plains
As ghost I move, my dark lord, above me
Flocks swirl and spike. I stand accused,
Your pointed face divining oblivion,
And no redemption in the rains of my
Cliff walk days.


2

I see my shroud pinning on the wires
His legs are razored forks spinning my
Compass from True North. Your dark brush-
Fire wings, the swept wind, wheels and strings
My fate. Such black rhetoric in a burn,
Your caws, loosed perches, on the stakes, picks
My crowning grave. Black dove, your feathers finger
As they slice.


3

Smoke, the cardinal blood caries my teething
Bone, spades my hand without a flight.
Taut, the pulled noose my hooded one
I see my scarecrow’s reflexion, the scar,
Let blood, the seeded droppings end trailed
To my door. Feathers, ferry to carry on
Dowsing downward, black knight of down, to sticks
On extended wings.