Author: Michael Raven

Michael Raven has been murdering innocent words since some time in primary school and hasn’t had the decency to stop after he was first published in second grade. During the mid-90s, he was the emcee at a spoken word/open mic salon, "Sweet Immolation", in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood. He is deeply interested in the Old Ways and in shamanic traditions.

at the shore

©2022 Michael Raven

cool ocean waves
washing my burning
head at the delta
silt out of my ears
i hear raven
ticktocktapping
polished granite
at the shore

waiting for the tide
to drag me under
past doors to another
side, inside
where we can all laugh
about it over mead hall
banter instead
of me
washing my mind
at the shore

visitation

©2022 Michael Raven

i am divide
my hands tremble
passing through
fisheyed lens water:

last night i saw
circle line tiger grey
feral she came
to light at patio doors
i knew her feline form
in the night
sketched in shadow
winter light
this tilted threshold
on a swiftly turning
planet tumbling
tumbling
through evernight

shaking, i called for witness
she danced along
the ghost
back into the dark