Electra’s dictionary noir/ more bats in the belfry

I find myself feeling a moment of dèjá vu. My head feels so fogged that I feel the need to shake my head as if to clear it. And bang my head on the wall I'm pinned to as the motion throws me with more force than I had meant to 

It doesn’t hurt. It more wakes me up, on a level 

Jörn drops his grip on me and walks back to the window to peer out; his long legs move like a predator seeking his target and ….that thought makes me think about memories of Elan; Elan’s memories that is 

I feel an ice cold chill, as if I put my hand in ice water ….i think of the boat now when I think of water ….cold ….so cold 

I look over at Jörn who seems bored now with the view into the darkness of night. He turns to watch me thoughtfully crossing his arms across his chest. He wears his Swedish trench coat pushed up his long forearms and I see his muscles flex there. As if he is thinking of crushing something but his eyes are on me 

“What is that word you always like to say about yourself?” and he smiles as he starts to walk towards me thoughtfully 

“I don’t know which one you mean….” I say 

“‘Obtuse’ —that’s the one…. It is interesting ….” he smiles that way 

     ….and I think of him as I remember him from thst night so long ago ….and when the shadows of bats first came to me ….when we first met—first met?

He stops near me and cups my face by my chin as he studies my eyes,

“you can be.”

Electra’s dictionary Noir/the man with the vampire eyes

“So why did you follow me here?”

I watch as he walks to the window, he looks out into the night’s darkness, then he turns and looks at me, 

“do you have any idea what is really going on here?” 

“The shadows on the wall…. started to give it away,” I say and back away a little 

“The shadows?” his gaze even in the dark room seem to glow like kryptonite 

“They look like bats on the wall,” I say but I keep moving back from him even as he notices I do, “at first I thought ….”

He backs me up to the wall and pins me there, his hand going up the back of my neck as he twists his fingers in my hair to hold me there,

“what did you think, duva?”

“I thought I dreamed them but I realized ….you’ve been spying on me with drones all this time!” I reach to free his grasp 

He laughs, 

“you really think I have drones watching you? You were closer to accurate when you were dreaming —what if I told you ….no, let’s not do this here, let’s not talk about it now ….”

“What?” but I notice something odd about his face which I’d never noticed before …. “Jörn ….why did you ask about Gerald?” I say this as I watch his pulse beating blue through his skin and reach to turn his face to me ….his eyes …. “Jörn ….” but now I hear it, something in his breathing and watch that strange glow of electric and I whisper, “the time in the stairwell too …. but ….what is it—it’s something, isn’t it—I mean —why bats?”

Suddenly he grins in that way as he watches my eyes as if expecting me to say something but ….the words never form

I will come to you in your time of need~I am your angel of mercy/e.d.noir

I will come to you in your time of need~I am your angel of mercy 

“I had a weird dream,” I tell Jörn

“So you decided to trade one New York mountain destination for another, was it meant to throw me off? Because you shouldn’t underestimate my tracking skills, you should know that by now,” he says

“Why do you imagine everything is about you?” I ask him 

We are in the upstate home in the Catskills that, yes, I fled to in order to get away and maybe it was to get away from Jörn and his games and his drama or maybe it was just to get away 

Even still it was true what I said 

“What was the dream? Did you tell Gerald?” Jörn walks slowly towards me 

I move in another direction,

“do you see the masonry is completed from the last time we were here. Do you remember when we were here? Do you remember that day Jörn?”

rebirth of Venus

a long abandoned false self, not even noticed, frees me of it 

I only feel it in my awareness, as I feel it, as it disintegrates 

why did I let it cling for so long…. I wonder at its flimsy significance 

~that was never me

1st teaser look at reworking the Viking swords

 

West Coast Sunflower (Oregon)

East Coast Sunflower (New York)

Captioned hook

 

“Oh no, they’re here!” Lily leaned up against the door she had just come through 

“Hey Miss Tiger!”

“Shut up John!” Michael said and blew a spit wad at him 

“It’s ‘Tig-ghere’, stress on the second syllable, you dolt!”

“What’s a dolt?” John looked at his brother 

“You idiot!” Michael said 

“Now, now, what’s this all about?” Wendy walked into the room with the coffees, “I could hear all of you from the coffee machine!”

“They’re here!” Lily said having now walked away from the door and was peering out the office window that overlooked the parking lot below as she absently brushed imaginary lint off of her pumpkin colored sweater which had a collar that looked like flower petals around her face 

Wendy calmly put down the tray with their coffees and walked across the room to join Lily by the window 

“Did you talk to them? They seem nice from here….”

“From here?” Lily looked at Wendy, “do you have an eagle eye? I don’t get your optimism. I mean…. I was running late so—I realized who they were because of ….you know, the car….”

Wendy tried to look better into the parking lot,

“Did you see it?”

Suddenly John and Michael joined them by the window hoping for a glimpse of the much talked about vehicle 

But Lily seemed bored now and shrugged, walking away from the window,

“I don’t think he came here in it—but I mean I realized who it was because of the car—you know, the stretch limo the Darlings always use to fetch corporate shitheads.”

Well, they had spent so much talking awhile they didn’t realize how close until the footsteps landed and the office door swung open

There was George Darling with two others; a man (kind of boyish) in a very smart and neat Scottish green tweed suit and a woman (small in statue; a petite pixie) dressed in a pink herringbone jacket and skirt suit wearing pink bowed pumps with tiny kitten heels. 

“Let me introduce our new clients from Nether—nether….ha-chew!!!” Mr.Darling sneezed, “land….” he said and paused to blow his nose

“Never never land?” John looked at Michael 

“Nederland!” this is when the new client in the Scottish green tweed business suit stepped forward. It seemed as if he suddenly grew quite tall but agile and yet somehow sprite; and once seen in the light almost gleamed with a magic that surrounded him, like an aura of charisma and with it like a torch, his hair was a flame of reddish blond, its luster like electricity,

“Pieter,” he at which point said by way of introducing himself, going straight first to Wendy Darling, “Pan…. just flew in today—do you like to fly? Wendy, is it?”

John elbowed Michael remembering the memo now about them. The girl—uh—woman—he and Michael had spent the afternoon looking her up on Instagram 

“TeenykayBell!” John suddenly laughed 

“It’s Tinker Bell!” Michael said with an admonished whisper everyone heard 

“What the fuck is a tinkerbell?—no—it’s actually Tina Kerbell—but I go by Teen not Tina,” she made a point to correct 

Then she noticed the pretty pumpkin colored sweater she recognized from a picture in a magazine in the shade—and she blurted it suddenly—“Tiger!”

But by kneejerk reaction thus came the offended reply,

“Lily!”

 

    in a perfect world, one should never be desperate 

The walls that echo

 

just chill out

(Not) Another 800 Words

 The Boatclub 

“Don’t tell me you still work here!” Siouxsie’s voice carried across the width of the massive interior of the Boat Club and her remark was aimed at the other female standing at the bar sporting her favorite surfer bodysuit while throwing back a few surrounded by a crowd of buff men. Siouxie stood in her signature black goth attire and ghost pale face and just because she had to, for old time’s sake, struck a pose by the entrance 

“What???” the other woman replied squinting as she looked over, “what the ….am I dreaming….is that Morticia Adams in the flesh or Siouxsie McNamara of the fashion house boutique? Holy sh—when did you blow in? How many years has it been?”

Siouxie walked over and looked around,

“seems like nothing’s changed around here.”

“Oh it has. It has, believe me, like you can’t get decent service in here for one!” Hannah laughed and looked Siouxie up and down with approval, “hey—yo—we need a couple more drinks out here, snap to it barman!”

Hannah’s circle of fanboys all roared in agreement with approval 

“Hannah—you think you may slow it down?” Zack stepped from the kitchen area

Hannah looked at Siouxie with a slight wink,

“see what I mean? Some —interesting changes….”

“Siouxie!” Zack looked over now realizing who was there and came around to hug her, “what blew you in?”

“That’s what I been asking her, can you give us a refill Dad?”

“If you can get it yourself, Hannah, be my guest, you still act like you work at Fiona’s.”

“Ahh, Fiona’s is it?” Hannah looked again at Siouxie, “this isn’t just the Boat Club anymore. They’ve expended, didn’t your granddad tell you? Big Mac backed it, shocked the hell out of me, but there you have it.”

“You’re kidding?” Siouxie pulled up a chair to sit at the bar as Hannah walked around behind it, “my grandfather backed exactly what —are you saying? I’m totally intrigued, they never tell me anything! I’ve had zero news of Weld, fill me in!”

“Well, for starters, what are you drinking?”

“I’ll have a hurricane if you still remember how to make it,” Siouxie turned to the male surfers, “don’t mind us, though you all look tasty we have to catch up now so catch some waves.” And once they took the hint she asked, 

“So your dad works for Fiona?” 

“Works? My dad? Can you ever e-magine my dad working for a woman? Are you mad? His Māori pride would never let that happen—uh no, I was more suggesting more of an interesting partnership.”

“Your dad and Fiona are ….?”

“I’m not saying that at all but I’m saying it’s interesting. How long have you been away? You went on your kiwi year and never came back as I recall ….”

“Yeah well, it’s been a few—have you seen Shay? Not to get off the topic, which I’m really interested in too but, we lost touch like a year or so back when I was in the Himalayas—that’s where I got a lot of my design ideas for the boutique.”

“You mean —so you don’t know? I thought you two were like super buddies—weren’t you?” Hannah poured the shots and they drank down a few 

“Like I said, the Himalayas ….so—wait is that your dad unpacking—“

“No—packing —“

“An airplane,” Siouxie pointed in shock out the boat club window 

“It’s a seaplane,” Hannah said simply and matter-of factly, “see what I mean? A lot has changed. Once dad got his license you can say things really took off. You see? Of course Big Mac would back this. So now my dad flies people in and imports; he has three other pilots and planes—well seaplanes —but that’s not all of it….you left when?”

“It’s like three—four years maybe?”

“That’s how long since you spoke to Shay?”

“Those mountains, I’m telling you, the Himalayas are steep.”

“Well, the caravan park is gone—my dad merged the property with the Orca and now you should see the new hotel,” Hannah waved outside in the direction,

“And let me guess, your brother Ike now runs the Uber service,” Siouxie added 

 “As if! Wow you haven’t heard any news huh? He graduated from Auckland came back and —wait do you wanna see the hotel now, I mean, it’s right here, it’s attached to the boat club if ya wanna go see it.”

“Uhh, no, wait— I think first you need to tell me about Shay—is she in here in Weld?”

“I thought you guys did the kiwi year together?”

“We kinda got separated when I lost my phone ….and that’s actually how I wound up ….in the Himalayas….I came back with great clothes! Anyway, tell me about Shay.” 

(Not)800 Words continued

The twins sat happily under the umbrella on the sand as Smiley engaged the two in a very long winded Māori fable; the twins reacted by mostly giggling at the expressions he made as he retold the ancient story. Woody had promised Tracey he would spend lots of quality time with the twins but the waves were just looking too good. And there came Smiley to the rescue 

“Hey Woody! Something’s come up!” Smiler (Smiley) had waved at him running up Piranha Bay shore

“Yeah, mate, and great call and timing—check out those waves! You reckon you might watch the little surfers for me while I catch some?”

“No, we’ve got huge orders now coming in with those solar panels—have you seen George?”

“Ahh, no worries, mate—let me just catch a few and you watch these two and I’ll burn right through those orders, thanks mate!” without hesitation or a moments reflection, Woody accepted the allegorical gift horse, grabbed his board and leapt for the ocean leaving Smiley scratching his head but settling down next to the twins in the sand. 

By now, Smiler was used Woody’s ways and Smiler was no better at being distracted off task as the twins were really so entertaining. It was hard to say which of the two the twins more resembled as they both had a look of both Tracey and Woody, and a funny habit of stripping off their clothes. This thought made Smiler chuckle recalling that was how their parents met; on the nudie beach 

Today was back to school, Tracey being the principal couldn’t look after the twins and they weren’t at the stage of day care just yet (that is Tracey and Woody were not), so Smiler and his lady nurse friend had somehow taken on the role and with unmasked annoyance and rolled eyes Smiler’s lady nurse friend said she wasn’t knitting booties to voice her protest in her subtle way.

Lost in thought staring at the waves Smiler was taken by surprise as a wet surfer slap landed on his back when Woody returned, shocking the islander out of his dreamy thoughts. 

“Woody!”

“Scared ya mate! —naw just me!—what a surf—you know I saw a penguin out there, I swear, it was just coasting along and—“

“Woody— I just had a thought —“

“Oh yeah, just the one or is this like —“

“George!”

“What about George?”

“George and Katie….”

“Yeah what about them?”

“Katie and Zack…..”

“Uhh yeah ….but they’re like—“

“George and Fiona…..”

Woody scratched his face scruff thoughtfully,

“I see where you’re going with this, but they all —“

“I saw Zack leaving—“

Woody abruptly stopped him,

“now Smiley, you know how I feel about gossip, if you’re about to tell me how he was just sneaking out Katie’s window I don’t wanna know, ok—cos like, that would kill the great vibe I am on from that surf, so don’t go there, ok?”

“No I’m just saying, it was that dinner party, I think those two would have had a better chance—“

“I know you like to say how George helped me and Trace talk it through and all but we shouldn’t be poking our noses in this, besides, I heard Shake may be a thing again—but that’s not gossip because of who I heard it from!” with a whiplash motion, Woody then landed another wet slap on Smiler’s back

“Shay and Ike?”

But already Woody was halfway down the beach with Amy on his shoulders and little Andy stumbling beside him learning to test his legs

Electra 

 

ravenous

you know it was the most strangest of things, yesterday that I saw —it was something almost mythical.

right after the storm, the snow is all powder white, it crunches quietly because the sky is full of snow 

so it was this way, a bare skeletal tree at first caught my eye

then suddenly the sounds of wild ravens hawking loudly 

when I got to the house there it was! Covered in black ravens, dozens!!! A yellow house covered in ravens all flying around —then up in the trees behind in the bare branches —all filled with ravens. 

They circled me as I walked by the house and shouted at me flapping their wings 

and I wondered walking away—why is it only thst one house?

non-haiku falling autumn winter

the odd incongruence 

of a shatter of golden ochre autumn leaves 

upon a near foot of white snow 

illuminated under the lamppost 

Who will stand beside you when your world falls apart?

 

Side Street Mystery/Best Sellers Sheets & pages

It had been a busy day at the bookshop; lately they had been getting quite a lot of traffic because of something someone said on TikTok (mystery bookshop owner’s deaths) and what with Halloween around the corner ….

“I say we go with it,” Sheila had said raising an arched brow at the sudden addition of shoppers that walked through the shop’s antique double doors all with hiking backpacks 

And this was the sort of town where strange stories are glorified 

So Sheila picked one store window and Faun another and they decorated gruesomely using horror fiction books the store conveniently always carried. H. P. Loveceaft, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker ….but they might have got carried away with the extra special effects to bring the books to life

“Surprise! Fake blood!” Sheila pulled out of her giant handbag 

So the bookstore was busy and so was the street with curious onlookers hanging around.

“We really have caused a commotion,” Sheila remarked, looking natural and beautiful as a trans Elvira as she peered out the shop window, “look— they’re taking a group selfie in front of the store with two of them faking they’re dead!”

“Oh that recent news story,” Faun rolled her eyes and felt fed up about it, “they just want to sensationalize to get views and will stoop at making up stories ….”

Sheila turned from the window knowing this was a touchy subject. What with Grant …. and suspicions surrounding him

****

And it was later back st her place— the Victorian lavender grey house with the now slightly less overgrown front garden and her place behind it —when she thought she heard someone at the door. It was the middle of the night and she was in bed having a disturbing dream. A knock. 

Or was it in her dream?

And heading down the stairs she went through to the kitchen to look out the kitchen door window. But no. No one there.

Yet she heard it again. A knocking. 

But it was coming from upstairs she now realized. Faun went back up the stairs back to her bedroom and now heard it again. 

She smiled. Sat on the edge of the bed and knocked back. 

She heard through the wall,

“are you awake?”

“Well now I am!” she said back through the wall 

And for whatever reason her phone alerted a message as a text came from Grant:

<<come over>>

<<Im half asleep>> she replied 

<<bring your own pillow>>

***

he didn’t bother to put the light on but he did move over on his bed for her 

“Took you long enough,” he said but he opened his blanket to let her under and into the warmth of his bed cave 

“How long have you been back?” Faun asked but then forgot the question because whatever she’d arrived in was adeptly removed and tossed onto the floor and at the same time his mouth everywhere, demanding, kissing her 

And not a whoof out of King Leopold 

waar ben je gebleven?

Electra’s dictionary Noir/a coffee déjà vu

I suppose I must have got lost in thought staring into the vastness of the street, how fast things move— don’t they?

why must they?

Josef shocks me out of my fugue by appearing suddenly next to me. The Viking ambush again. But he holds a cup of coffee and offers it to me,

“sorry, it’s not instant, he’s dragged out the French press, but there’s honey in it, you see I remembered—and some of the almond milk I saw in there, but—no, Jörn made it for you.”

I don’t look at him right away. I feel guilty and smile and take the cup…. Folkmoot ….? I get that feeling again …. Like that time—the first time in Jörn’s kitchen; he handed me the cup and ….I felt it…. that sense of an overlay of ….lives…. Josef ….he was there —then ….that’s what ….it was that day at the barn house—I forgot I saw it then too

I shudder but manage to suppress it and sip the coffee and look up at Josef 

“We never had that conversation,” he tells me in that wise old voice which he exaggerates because he can’t resist the drama 

“Which one?” I ask him

“You have been angry at me,” he says this as if no time passed since he’d last said it

Had I forgotten? 

His eyes, when his twinkle, are not the same as Jörn’s —Josef has a more Father Christmas about his whereas Jörn’s twinkle is always —well, noir ….

“Because you pretended to like me and it was just to get me legally hitched to your son for your opera house,” I tell him this without any drama at all. I state it because this is what happened. 

I hear Jörn laugh from the coffee pot as he brings two more cups over to the table; he places one in front of Josef who has settled himself at —the head of the rectangular table. Of course. Folkmoot, I think ….

But blurt,

“Jörn, did Gerald tell you I was back?” turning to Jörn as he—presumptuously— sits beside me on the kitchen bench that parallels the full length picture window 

But now it is Josef who laughs and says,

“you think he needs a psychic to tell him you’re back when he’s an international spy?”

“I’m an ‘intelligence decipherer’ not a spy, papa —is that what you went by?” Jörn replies 

Josef laughs,

“I’m a respectable symphony conductor, that’s what it says on my tax papers….pass the socker.”

Electra’s dictionary noir/Vad är det här för sorts kaffe?

….but no I am not ready for this 

      still spinning from ….everything 

          But I don’t have the energy to fight two Vikings so, I step away and let them pass and by now even Josef knows the layout ….so we go without saying to the kitchen where I was making myself coffee 

I look at it and walk away and go to the window instead. I sit in the window seat and just stare out into the vast abyss of the city but I do hear Jörn exclaim over my coffee. I hear his indignant Swedish gasp and say,

“Vad är det här för sorts kaffe? Jag kom hit i tid, hon dricker snabbkaffe – hon har verkligen sjunkit ihop, stackars duva!”

It just sounds like a scene from Fanny and Alexander to me so I just sit there staring as I hear him rummaging around in the kitchen. I put my head into the glass and close my eyes listening to Josef and Jörn bicker 

and …. just whisper to myself, “tack så mycket….”