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
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 Kaddishin somber monotone?
“Blessed is His name, whose glorious kingdom is forever”
– Oh, I knew it was a zero sum game,
But this unruhewears a placid face.
I built a sanguinariumin Gethsemanethen stalled for peace with hungry vampires,
Praying beyond our captors:
urfuʼa ugʼulla usliha v’khappara
verevaḥ vehatzala*
Send my demonscrawling home,
Consumed by the fires of glittering stars.
Fear them,
They’ll colonize the chernozem,
Drang nach osten
Drang nachwesten,
DasHerrenvolk, in synchrony–
Telikodevils 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!
Termabed 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
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 eveof 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 pilotthrough the monsters,
The lies,
The E.B.E.’s.
So set a course for your Aude,
To the spaceleft 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
Lazarusspringing 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 toomsthe 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 shapesthey leave.
No one ever told me, no one ever said
The whispered ghost in the machine is a miracle man
A conduitof 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
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.
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.
Dragon-Ballistic 