** hear ye hear ye and ahead of the presses ** be the furtherest adventures of
Sludge White and the Seven Curmudgeons. when we last left our intrepid heroes,
the spookhouse in the woods had been surrounded by their majesties' minions
and ghoulish goons. Sappy had just shared his vision with Rashful, and they'd
only just grasped....
the conspicuous drift of
the stiffening breeze.
and scouring the nearby undergrowth
it brushed against a cheek
that blushed a bloodied glow
wakening Weepy in a patch
of ferns
where consciousness had lapsed
beneath a glancing blow.
for he littered the trail
of dissonance
crushed in the bracken by
implacable wheels,
like innocence lost or
helplessness found
the collateral prey of heavy-handed heels.
assuming his tethers to bide
in his body
he thoughtfully studied
the troubled skies;
his throat forming clicks
to call to the otter,
intention glinting in his
watery eyes.
and hearing his familiar's
timid approach
he leapt from the spot
where they'd left him for dead,
already transported by the
cadence
expressed in the lilt of
his enigmatic tread.
the atmosphere quickened its
attention.
the monkey scampered up
and settled on a sill.
the curtains fluttered
with anticipation
coming to meet her as the
shutters went still.
intuiting this billowing ally
whether sheer apparition
or wandering jinn
the mage of mercy pondered
the perspective,
adjusting the tilt of her
contrary chin.
behind them the mirror mapped
out intruders
scrying position by reminiscent scars,
possessed of the imprint
of parting particles;
a magic lantern channeling
the stars.
for much like the dance of
ponderous planets
a yearning revolves
through subatomic pores
resolved by charting manifestation;
beholding quantum pilgrims
sailing round their cores.
and Mary heeded the
revealing reflections
patched in succession
through the mirror's screen,
a conspiracy of steely
visages
sheathed in a shelter of
variegated green.
taking her cue from the
skeleton's neurosis
she divined a
disassembling scheme
for avian bandits swooping
in squadrons
disarming assailants and
stealing their steam.
Sable, her sisters, and a
disheveled Elsbeth
each led detachments on
lightening raids,
relying on the crows'
infallible instincts
to pick out the shine of the
glinting blades.
and Solomon waited in the shadows
assembling their bounty in
ill-gotten piles,
a resurrected fence for
slings and arrows;
Death's grinning comment
on the war god's wiles.
a
feisty gaggle of savvy appliances
had
mounted a foray into the woods
spurred
on by the broom and blustering battlerack,
all
swishing bristles and overblown hoods.
the
swashbuckling knives led off the procession
the
crème de la crème of offensive defense,
inclined on even
diplomatic days
to suggest spookhouse
guests ought to get themselves hence.
the ousted swinging vines still mucked about
delving murky depths in the unsuspecting peat,
thickening their thorns and strangling entanglements
fortifying grips for iron clad feet.
the
crawling enigma that haunted the pantry
that
day when the borders first came undone
poked
its proboscis out of the underbrush
to
sniff a stray shaft of fragmentary sun.
five
draggling ears made up for missing legs
as
it squiggled about on a surplus of fuzz.
and
though they'd finally proved it existed
they
still couldn't say what it actually was.
the
irritated bears prowled round the entry
while
Gropey and Mock kept an eye on the rug.
despite
its having to do without innards
it
worried their heels like a spring-loaded pug.
Mortimer
and Sleazy chased after Chester
lest
peril befall him while they were apart,
for
those who have melded with a glimrin
feel a loss of harmony chiming by their heart.
Trixie
and Lumpy were funneling yearlings
up
the sagging stairs to lessen sorrow's sway,
interfering with fear's its self-inflictions
by
forestalling the trauma on which it can prey.
Sylvana attended the sleeping princess
like an angel of stone on a grief-soaked mound,
a standing Oglala before the directions
chanting her death song, staked to sacred ground.
escorting
a fawn to lesser danger
phantom
recognition froze Pally in his tracks
when
blinking his eyes at the lowering sky
he
beheld hell's nightmare, looming through its cracks.
obscured
by the lofty interwoven awning
paralyzing
shapes began to emerge.
a
trio of fiendish metallic contraptions
tortured
the air with their ominous dirge.
quite
the same order of throbbing steel beast
that
tore up the future in ByWater Landing,
they
called into question compassion's chances
of
basing a faith on man's understanding.
Pally's
endeavor to raise the alarm
was
instantly expanded into a chorus.
hence
synchronous, sympathetic echoes
announced
that his larynx had also gone porous.
one
of the demons altered course to pursue him
flashing
its sinister, pitiless glare,
while
something like a wave of buoyant laughter
broached
Pally and the fawn in the fractured air.
propelled
by friction they coasted forward
till
they hovered above the remains of the door.
and
lurching into reach, Mock reeled them in,
slinging
gentle tendrils across the battered floor.
standing
behind her unflappable window
the
unsighted seer sadly shook her head.
then she pulled on a
string from the hem of her cloak
unravelling a many
coloured thread.
extending itself like a
conjurer's trick
it swelled into cords its
frailty belied,
weaving queer patterns enfolding
Guanyin;
a giant cat's cradle with
a wizard inside.
diverging at intervals
formulas took shape,
each distinct as an
autograph or seal.
and those nearby could
almost comprehend
the cryptic twined
meanings that they seemed to reveal.
like a deep sea commune of
linked up creatures
waiting for debris to
descend and dissolve
this wreath of shivering,
living mandalas
thrived on its host and continued
to evolve.
the woven symbols sprouted
bits of light
surrounding themselves
with an effervescent froth
as if phosphorescence was an offshoot
of reducing threads from their elemental broth.
like called to like and
burst through the window
in a blue-white radiance
of shimmering sparks.
for the flaming
intelligence alighted
downstream from one of his
incandescent arcs.
everyone in earshot was
quick to deduce
those whispers stirring that
sea of rustling grass
meant the hedge witch must
have been conferring
with this flickering entity
of molten glass.
enveloping the esoteric
emblems
in his floating crop of iridescent tears,
he imparted that same
august impression
of wisdom predating the
dawning of years.
and wafted by ungravitating currents
the strand bore its
ciphers up to the ceiling
giving rise to elation in
everyone nigh,
untrammeling the edges of
feeling.
as the garland hung its
loops around the rafters
the murmuring adepts both
heaved a sigh.
then it squeezed itself
into tightening knots
till the three flying beasts were parked in the
sky.
**** ** **** ** **** *** **** ** **** ** ****
- Evan Hawthorn, the 14th
of September, 2016
