Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 16: Of Hand Operated Head Bludgeons and Throat Mallets

| October 16, 2019

It was an afternoon in the late 1970’s when I attended my first, and so far only, estate auction, inside the lofty, creaky confines of an ancient Halifax auction house. I was there in the company of two friends with whom was shared an interest in antique instruments of mayhem, and the newspaper listing for […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 15: The Hour That Never Was

| October 15, 2019

A foundational part of our animal nature is a hefty dose of healthy opportunism, and it pains me to see it practiced on such an amateur level among humans these days. So here’s a lesson. The Hour That Never Was By LFM Consider now the question of what happens after death, What phantasmagoric wonders might […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 13: Weep Not for the Willfully Blind

| October 13, 2019

“Man is the ultimate apex predator by design, and our footprint upon the world bears this out without question. Yet the Human brain, with all of its baggage, regards the world no differently now than it did when riding astride the skull of our cave dwelling, fire building, flint knapping ancestors.” ~ Dark Sentiments Season […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 12: Predator and Prey

| October 12, 2019

I am the mirror the kitten doesn’t see As it stalks the other. Its efforts exhausted in reaction To only what it, itself, has done. I am the dream that makes real all that you see in me, And I remain unseen As you believe in the lies you tell yourself, Absent thought. ~ I […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 11: Perennial Weeds

| October 11, 2019

“A label can be a physical object that, when applied to another object, conveys important information about it. What it’s made of, how to use it, how long it may be kept, and the best means of storage before use or consumption. Things like that. These sorts of labels abound in today’s world and are […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 9: Wetiko

| October 9, 2019

I have come to know that my Esteemed Friend Master At Arms James Keating and I are joined at the spiritual hip, and so it came as no surprise when late last August he emailed me some articles on the Wetiko. If you come here often enough, you will know that I have previously written […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 8: The Box

| October 8, 2019

“About 15 years ago a multinational company purchased an old cement plant near my place and started to incinerate dangerous waste. One day, when the smell of burning tires and plastic was particularly bad, I joined a local group of ecological activists. “We fought the cement plant and corrupt government officials for many years and […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 7: You Wouldn’t Know the End of the World if it Bit You in the Ass

| October 7, 2019

“In truth, most people really don’t understand the burden of responsibility they carry for their own safety and survival, and the commonalities that link every threat to life and limb. In truth, most people have accepted the idea that no matter what happens, all you need do is call “Them” and “They’ll” take care of […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 5: A Tipple With Death

| October 5, 2019

A Tipple With Death By LFM Death came to call on a neighbour last night, One I never knew well past a nod and a wave, That she drove her wee car just a little too fast, And a widow, her husband three years in the grave. I thought, it’s a while since we shared […]

Dark Sentiments Season 10 — Day 1: A Season for Conversations

| October 1, 2019

“No organism can afford to be conscious of matters with which it could deal at unconscious levels.” ~ Gregory Bateson – Steps to an Ecology of Mind Welcome back thou frayed and fraught traveller. We’ve kept your seat by the fire warm and ask that you pay no attention to the vacant ones. We live […]