Category Archives: Twist

The Middle

If you have just found this Alphabet Book, this is not the beginning, this is the middle, you are in the middle. One might say you have no choice in this, none of us do, the middle is all we… More

Stanza 15: Helix

seccard hæfþ         oftust on fenne.
wexeð on wature.         wundaþ grimme.
blode breneð         beorna gehwylcne
ðe him ænigne         onfeng gedeð
᛬᛫

This sword has a dwellingMore

Translating Eolhx

This is a stanza about a plant; this is clear from the context and from the word secg, which means a sedge or reed. It also means a person, poetically, and a sword. In Beowulf it is a sword:… More

How to See the Pair in the Middle

The rune carvers thought in pairs. They had a whole pronoun classification for the two that are also one, so it is no surprise to find pairs in the Rune Poem, matched thematically: the… More

Loop

 

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Twist

The answer to this stanza riddle is the word eolhx, meaning unclear. We know this is the name of the rune because this word appears in the only copy we have of the Rune Poem, printed in 1705… More

Fen

Turn back, don’t you see? Look where you are. Look at that evil plant spiraling all around this place, sharp, dangerous, don’t grab it no matter how unstable this marshy… More

X is for

X doesn’t start much in modern English, limiting our alphabet poets to a poor choice between xylophone and X-ray. This is why English speaking toddlers know so much about internal… More

Rune Casting: Eolhx

You’ll be mired in it. You’ll twist yourself up trying to get out of a quagmire and end up bogged down in quicksand. Sinking. Don’t grab over your head for something… More

Solve for X. X = a stand in for consonant clusters: sounds like ks for word endings and when it appears after stressed vowels. It is an unvoiced ks when it comes before a t, voiced as gz for… More