XF Writing Challenge Season 5

Finally another season finished! Season 5…the titles started to remind me of Skinner and his delicate balance between good and bad, protecting his agents and lying to them – fun times!

As usual, episode titles are underlined. Yes, I took a certain artistic liberty with Redux I/II (after consulting with fellow Philes on the matter), and decided that really…they’re both named Redux, the numbers are just there to keep the order straight.


 

Beacon

I follow you, and you:

                          My beautiful two unusual suspects caught folie a deux

     How did we get here?

                       I try, I do

                                       To guard and guide, love and reproach

                           – A hapless father to some post-modern Prometheus

                             Stealing fires from the monsters pulling my strings,

Crossing the line I try to maintain.

 

I play both sides,

                           Navigating a dreaded thread between the red and the black:

                                                                   Of Love and Death,

                                                                   Flush of youth and aging grace

                                                                                 – this Church and State

                           A prehistoric battle trapped in a Christmas carol

                                          Infecting all Life’s travelers,

A bad blood disease – and I’m patient X of the Pine Bluff variant.

 

All souls are waiting for some sign,

                   For recollected light casting shadows on the wall of the cave,

                                                            Archetypes of the mind’s eye

           So am I –

                         I’ve seen it …when I died:

                                 The world displayed in guts and gore

                                 Savage frailty, full glory – hate ignored

 It was enough mystery for this life.

 

I try to buck, find a damn detour

                        Knock it off,

                                 The things I’ve done – find me!

                                                             Come back – stop me – redux!

                                                             Find your way home;

                                                 Save you, everyone, myself – redux, please!

Beware my destructive emily con su chinga del cigarro 

Remember who you can trust in the end.

 

They’ve got me by the kill switch,

                        (I won’t get a second break)

              I’m dealing, fed lies bred in schizogeny

                                      I’m still me

                                                         – it doesn’t even matter what I believe,

                                                                             It matters what I do.

                        So what I do is follow you,  and you – kitsunegari

Until I’m turned…folie a three.

XF Writing Challenge Season 4

All the titles seemed to be leaning toward CSM, so this is kinda from his view. We all know he sees himself as the hero in the story of the saving the planet – if only those pesky agents would understand and join him!

Real Heroes Lie

I was small potatoes,
                     So content – never again!
I pushed persuasion to the max,
               Enthroned with the clout of ancient men
                   Watching so many highs and lows,
                         Celebrated names that smile and go, and here I stand.
I have helped so many lives,
El mundo gira – I have saved it countless times.
Tempus fugit, then goodbye –
                                       Digging Leonard Betts deep, forgive me,
                                                                                    I certainly tried.
Who will be there to write my elegy,
                    To say Kaddish in somber monotone?
“Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever”
                                 – Oh, I knew it was a zero sum game,
                                    But this unruhe wears a placid face.
I built a sanguinarium in Gethsemane then stalled for peace with hungry vampires,
                     Praying beyond our captors:
                                                                               urfuʼa ugʼulla usliha v’khappara
                                                                                                        verevaḥ vehatzala*
                      Send my demons crawling home,
                                                 Consumed by the fires of glittering stars.
Fear them,
                    They’ll colonize the chernozem,
Drang nach osten
Drang nach westen,
                                    Das Herrenvolk, in synchrony
Teliko devils displaced to show us all the true master race.
Yet you call me the monster,
                      Disregard my paper heart,
         As if I’m the one that tore that hole in Tunguska!
Terma bed themselves in wisdom while you crucify the sooth –
                    Is there no faith in good intent?
          None of it was lies, believe me,
                   But I can’t share everything with fools,
                              I merely held on to the truth.
Memento mori amici mei, it’s never where you expect –
                  I’m calling from the field where I died,
                  Right here where I tried to get through,
                                                       But you wouldn’t hear it.
Think of these as the musings of a cigarette smoking man
           On his unrequited quest for an heir and a friend,
                                 With a lonely soul begging mercy and amends.
—————————————————————————————————
*translation: Healing, redemption, forgiveness, atonement
Relief and salvation (lines from the Kaddish)

XF Writing Challenge Season 3

After a 3 year break…I was finally able to bring something together for season 3. Oh my.

Rise
We’ll throw hell money at strange issei, nesei men, at corpses;
                    Spy on their D.P.O. hoping some oshiya’s mail will unveil wondrous tragedies
                                       Pusher of the dead hearing 731 voices,
                                       Ryokaku seiri gakari and all those deformed bodies.
                        They are nameless on the list of riddles in the crypt,
                                                                              Teso dos bichos em sua oubliette.
                                   And what did they do?
They hunted me, they haunted you, ravaged our minds to a grotesque hue,
                 Until trust gets bent from unexpected places
                                                                                     … as “Jose Chung’s from Outer Spaceis.
But I’ve been aboard the Piper Maru,
                                             The quest for perfection a quagmire of eroded truths.
                                  And what do I do?
         I fight the fight, like you told me to,
                      A mere pawn in this War of the Coprophages
                                                                                             …men with shadowed, savage tastes.
       Secrets have a price not known,
                                           Searching for answers yields Clyde Bruckman’s final repose.
                                And what do you do?
You’ve been wetwired to scrutinize, investigate,
                                To view science as the blessing way
                                                                                      …the walk of martyrs you can’t disgrace.
Still, revelations come in the dark of the night,
                        Apocrypha avatar of light singing, “Talitha cumi,” as if it has all the answers.
                                                  Maybe it does.
                                                  Maybe it’s 2shy to prove its might.
Rise, little girl, take up those gloves,
                          You and me, syzygy, it’s what “team” is made of.

XF Writing Challenge Season 2

Continuing with the “use every title of the season” challenge with X-Files…This one has been my favorite (also from 2012).

Episode titles are underlined.


Descension

Maybe someone should pray for me today –

Gather up your blessed be’s, amen, excelsius dei

For I might fall apart some sleepless night.

I can’t stop myself –

Floating like a Calusari looking for my aubrey.

 Firewalker on a mission,

           Død Kalm

Counting, “3, 2, 1…”

                         Irresistible ascension

To the sun, any star, or a colony of dust somewhere in space

Where little green men still manage to maintain that fearful symmetry

That frightening mystique

In the dark, in the sands –

In the red, red land of some forgotten Anasazi

                             Humbug chased unto extinction.

 

Oh, what have I become?

My own f. emasculata, hurting whomever I must save.

Blood, blood, blood

On the stairs, in every parking garage;

Blood, blood, blood

On my hands, it’ll never wash off.

A twisted mind plays host to some red museum contrition,

Full of fresh bones in the soft light

Listen to the souls cry, “This is our town!”

Maybe they’re right.

So you back away,

Count, “1, 2, 3…”

Snap a chord and I’m Duane Barry

In one moment,  one breath, first take:

The devil gets to play

   Die hand die verletzt and it’s end game.

XF Writing Challenge

In 2012, I started a writing challenge for myself: write a poem for each season of the X-Files using each of the episode titles of that season. Why? Because…I love X-Files and I love writing.

This was the first one (and the easiest!) – episode titles are underlined.

Pilot

I found you in your corner

                        On a cloudy eve of spring

         Half-forgotten, scorned, bemused –

                   Determined not to be deceived.

You started with your crazy,

               Swinging in your chair;

   I caught my thoughts, belated

                And wondered what I was doing there.

Watch my hero campaign down the hall

         Roland in a suit and tie assumed as armor

                                              – Tall and strong;

My pilot through the monsters,

                      The lies,

                                     The E.B.E.’s.

       So set a course for your Aude,

                  To the space left to eternity;

                           Squeeze through time,

                 Beyond the sea,

                                      Beyond the stars

As they burst apart – a wondrous scene!

                                    But, oh, what it leaves…

Born again in the wake of your shattering shadows

                            Lazarus springing out,

                             Up from the flowers into disdain

                                    And these cold, dreary showers.

How did you become my signal –

                My cue to smile,

                      To love,

                                         To fight?

               With those ravaged wings,

                     The arrogance

             Icarus-bound as your pride ignites!

It feels like we’ve stood here before

                    Ice on the ledge, sky on fire,

            Looking into the void through two shafts of light.

                      Sweet fallen angel,

                             Bruised and used,

                Savage as the Jersey devil

                        You call to the thunder,

                 Cursing the night

                    Deep-thoughted,

                                              Deep throat,

       As the darkness falls,

                      As it tooms the heavens,

                                            Abandons your sight.

You drop to your knees

             Full of contempt and scorn,

    Yet you can’t turn away –

                       I suggest going home.

Pilot me beyond these monsters,

                  Beyond the stars,

                                Any semblance of life;

                 The busted dreams

           And all the shady shapes they leave.

No one ever told me, no one ever said

                  The whispered ghost in the machine is a miracle man

                               A conduit of conspiracies.

         Dusty streamers rippling,

                                     Exploding in your eyes

                      That plutonic mask revealing a past

                             Young at heart – and how it glows!

      Basking in the misting gold,

                    I collect the fragments of you in my Erlenmeyer flask

                                 Ever-bold,

                          Fates sew you to this genderbendered soul

      Through the universe’s glory

                                       And all histories retold.

13(ish) Songs for Halloween from This (half) Decade

Every October I spend  most of my down time looking for new things to add to my collection (way over 300 now) – dark songs are all that I play throughout the month: darkwave, horrorcore, folk, heavy metal, psychobilly, cabaret, movie scores… darkpop has become so popular that AmazonPrime was advertising a darkpop playlist.  We’re only halfway through the 2010’s and already it was difficult to winnow down my collection of Halloween-appropropriate songs. I don’t mind this at all.

To help me make my choices, I tried to pick from a variety of styles, some folk, alternative, rock, electronic, dance, pop, hiphop, one with a touch of humour…

1. Nightcall, Kavinsky

This is one of my favorite songs to play on my way in to work each night as it is…you add Halloween to the mix and really, I could just listen to it on repeat for days. Those deep, creepy vocals telling what he’s doing, and what he’s going to do, and the light touch of the girl’s response…the 80s feel about it all. Plus, I like to imagine that the problem is that he’s a werewolf, and she loves him anyway and it’s totally hot.

2. After Hours, Electric Six

I first became a fan of Electric Six when I stumbled upon the “Danger! High Voltage” video on a Youtube binge about 8 years ago. It was a beautiful thing – glowing genitals, even on a moose! So, I was surprised to see Amazon giving away a new song by them in 2010 (free music FTW!). Drunken afterwork revelry, drugs, sex, Satan…we can all hope for such a fun holiday.

3. Devils, Say Hi

This has always made me think of skeletons in a band …in New Orleans. “Woe is me indeed…” If you like this style, you should also check out “Shake/Shiver/Moan” by the 22-20s – which is totally what you’d be doing if you did happen across that New Orleans skeleton band.

4. Walking Dead Theme, Bear McCreary

I was torn between this and the “American Horror Story Theme,” but AHS kinda changes a little each season anyway (you should have each in your playlist though, plus treats like “Twisty & Dandy’s Theme” and “Lala, Lala Song”). Walking Dead came first though, and actually premiered ON Halloween, so…it wins.

5. The Curse, Agnes Obel

There’s just something about the way the strings crawl around through this song, it’s beautiful, it’s eerie. The video to go with it was done in black and white, and features wintery imagery that, much like the song, alludes to something spooky without actually identifying it. I really want to know what this cure was, where it came from, what it did…but I guess what it is is whatever we imagine it to be – the curse our brains ascribe to coinciding events. If you like the pretty sense of horror, also try her songs “Beast” and “Run Cried the Crawling.”

6. Zombie, Natalia Kills

So…your in love with a zombie…That can be…difficult. I wonder if he’s a zombie because he’s the boy from “Kill My Boyfriend,” perhaps? You could also have “Mirrors” and “Wonderland” on the list with this one. They all have well-made videos to match.

7. Dance in the Graveyards, Delta Rae

I was originally going to use “Bottom of the River” here, because witches will be flying for the night! Between the two songs though, “Dance in the Graveyards” is more appropriate, because it’s a Halloween pastime. Also, The X-Files taught me that the dead are scary when they first rise, sure, they’re hungry, but when things calm down a bit, after we’ve all run away, all they really want to do is dance and make love.

8. Seven Devils, Florence + the Machine

I could probably give F+M a list of 13 songs for Halloween all their own (which would include “Breath of Life”, “Never Let Me Go”, “Third Eye”, “Which Witch”, and “Heartlines”), but…this is one of my favorites since 2010. Agnes might have the beauty of those strings, but F+M brings the power of strong and creative drumming…like a possession. Unfortunately, they never made a video to go with it. Perhaps they figured Game of Thrones fans would take care of that. Yeah? Well, I didn’t find any up to par…so this at least features the lovely Florence Welch.

9. Bride of Infinity, Blondie

A few years ago, Blondie released three singles…on a whim it seems, or just because. They were free on Amazon, and I was excited, because, Blondie! One song was a throw-away cover song (oh well). One was “Dead Air,” which is also on my Halloween playlist, and it’s beautiful (reminds me of something from 1999’s No Exit), but then you hear this song, and – OMG, this is Blondie?? I had to double-check my MP3. You should also look for the single, “Mother” from 2011’s Panic of Girls. Below, a fan combined it with some Snow White and the Huntsman love, and it just…fits.

10. Ash Tree Lane, MS MR

Wait, MS MR and it’s not Bones? Yes. Bones is a great song, and those of you that watch Game of Thrones may be familiar without realizing it. Nothing says, “Welcome to Halloween!” like a a Tales from the Darkside intro to a song with a House of Leaves reference.

11. Sticks & Stones, Joe Henry

It’s a little disappointing that no one’s made a short film for this song…something dark and dusty with, well, “blood, ash and bone.” It’s the slow, bluesy-country type of folk song that Joe Henry does so well.

12. Funeral Song, Fast Romantics

Sometimes, you need a bit of whimsy. Fast Romantics made a break-up song that reads like a funeral lament, but sounds like a cheerful, catchy tune. It’s a well-balanced mix.

13. Monster, Kanye (ft. Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z)

There are artists out there that are straight up horrorcore, so if you’re looking for more like this, just check out TechN9ne, Kung Fu Vampire, Insane Clown Posse, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony…They have full albums with some seriously wicked tracks. In fact, even as I type this, I’m STILL debating switching this out with Wyzae’s “Night We Own” – it’s losing due to a lack of video magic, but really, check out the song & the whole Momento Mori album, yo. Maybe start by dipping a toe in this popular rapper conglomeration’s venture into the genre, it’s a great, creepy song, with a monster-filled video to match.

But wait! No Gossamer? Voltaire? Rob Zombie? She Wants Revenge? Marilyn Manson? The Devil’s Carnival soundtrack? Dude, google those, pick anything, and there you go – albumloads.

Not enough? There are plenty more out there…

~ K

Virgin Post

I’ve never written a blog entry before…I don’t know that I’ll write many. I prefer to share pictures or just write stories, or zone out with a series of “likes” on Facebook until my eyes burn and I realize it’s time to go to work. It’s nice to have my own pace here though, I guess – until I forget that I have it.

~ K