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HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE: I recollect the prompt for this being something along the lines of “Examine humanity’s future.” Being the cheerful, optimistic sort I am, I went full dystopia. In reality, we’d never colonize other planets without overcoming clan and ideological barriers, but I chose to overlook that sort of thing in favor of making a point about how awful humans can be. You should read this poem to your children at night to prepare them for the real world.
WHY SO SERIOUS: This poem began as an excuse for me to make a reference to Heath Ledger’s Joker. Also, I enjoy writing very short poems. Another great bedtime reading for the kiddos.
LOAK’S ANNUNCIATION: Loak is a psychopomp, a manifestation of humanity’s fears about shapeshifters, tricksters, monsters under the bed, and every bad quality in humans. There’s also some pondering on how human mythologies tend to make gods in our image—i.e. with human flaws. See Zeus’ serial infidelity, for example. I wrote this more or less immediately after reading René Depestre’s long, vivid poem “Epiphanies of the Voodoo Gods: A Voodoo Mystery Poem,” which is a great example of African diaspora poetry you should read for its excellent use of voodoo themes and seething anger at racism. Loak’s style of speaking and self-titling is heavily influenced by how Depestre’s voodoo spirits speak. Seriously, though, read “Epiphanies of the Voodoo Gods.” It’s a cool poem.
CONSUME: H.P. Lovecraft wrote a series of short stories about dreams called the Dream Cycle. It’s pretty solid, and since it’s mostly set in dreams, much less racist than some of his other works. This story is vaguely inspired by the Dream Cycle and all the crazy stuff that can happen in dreams. It’s also an exploration of losing oneself in another’s identity, like really obsessed fans of movies or TV or books or musicians do. Originally, the titans were “gods,” hence the inhabitants of the corpse cities being “deiphagists” or “god-eaters” in mangled Latin. Also, Akhule is the name of one of my co-workers. Why? Because I like to name characters after people I know. My poor grand-uncle has been tortured and murdered in print several times now. I feel a bit guilty.
THE TRAGEDY OF CROWS: Birds are cool, yo. This poem sprung out of an idle thought—“I wonder if birds have hereditary memory.” Yeah, that’s a pretty dumb question. They probably don’t. But birds can pass on information through generations: Calls, environmental threats, how to annoy humans by waking them up at hideous hours of the morning… So maybe birds could pass on knowledge that we’ve forgotten. Also, the imagery in “Wings Full of Gaps” is probably my favorite of anything I’ve ever written.
IRELAND BELONGS TO THE DEAD: I wrote this in Ireland, just before returning to Minnesota. I was cold, wet, tired, homesick, and didn’t want to leave. It had been the best month of my life, and all my sorrow at parting ended up on the page. Someday I’ll go back.
THE FAIRY-ROAD OF EISCIR RIADA: In reality, the old Eiscir Riada (Esker, or ridge, Highway) runs from Galway to Dublin. But “Dublin” doesn’t rhyme with “hush” very well, so I stretched the truth and said Eiscir Riada runs from Galway to Cloonfush. Cloonfush is a tiny little village northish of Galway. Never been there. It sounds nice. Mainly, though, it rhymes with “hush.” Now, fairy-roads. They’re bad business. Don’t build a house on one, don’t get caught out on one at night, generally don’t mess with one. Irish fairies are trouble. More on that in a minute.
HALLOWED GROUND: There’s a theme in Irish folk stories about fairies. People are very polite to the fairies, and do their best not to insult the “Gentry.” People especially don’t put hallowed ground on a fairy road. Priests who deal with fairies are careful, too. The fairies enjoy asking questions like, “Will we get into heaven on Judgement Day?” (The answer is no.) And the priests like to give very non-committal answers like, “Well, if the moon is blue and the ocean is red and the Good Lord appears wearing an Ulster jersey…” In other words, fairies aren’t to be trifled with. So now you know. Also found in this story: Some thoughts on the clash between education and tradition, religion and superstition, and city and country. As for the graveyard consecration rite? That’s the real deal. You need a Roman Catholic bishop for it, though. So don’t try hallowing your own bonepile. It won’t work. Probably. Don’t blame me either way.
JUDAS KISS: Not too much to say about this one. It began with the “crueler than dirt on a pauper’s grave” line and sort of expanded from there. I enjoyed creating the images. A little warning about knowledge humans were not meant to possess. Ignorance is bliss. Slavery is freedom. War is pe—sorry. Got a bit distracted there. I love you, Big Brother.
CONQUEROR: Actually a condensation of Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Ode to the Maggot.” An excellent poet you should check out. A lot of poems about the Vietnam war, but they’re still applicable today. “Conqueror” was originally a haiku, but now it’s some sort of mutant haiku with five syllables in each line rather than five-seven-five. Did I mention I like writing short poems?
THE WORMS CRAWL IN: One of the first supernatural stories I wrote. This piece is influenced equally by Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns and the TV show Supernatural. Originally, The Walking Fella was NOT going to be named “Ethan Walker” since that seemed a bit punny. But I like puns. So there. I have been told Ethan’s maggot farm is grotesquely humorous. It wasn’t meant to be, but you folks get your laughs wherever you can. I’m not judging. Much.
WINTER IN PINE COUNTY: Oh, hey. A mixed-media piece. That’s fun. At first, this was just the poems. Then I said, hey, let’s add an essay and make this meta! I was also going to put in some sketches of creepy deer standing on their hind legs—something deer actually do—and antlers and labyrinthine paths, but I can’t draw. Sorry.
GRAFFITI IN A MASSACHUSETS ASYLUM CELL: Don’t do Elder Signs, kids. The asylum in question is Lovecraft’s Arkham Asylum. The original Arkham Asylum. Batman’s got nothing on this! My poor poetry professor had to do research to understand this poem and “The Second Coming of Dagon.” He’s a good sport. You rock, Matt!
THE SECOND COMING OF DAGON: This is, in a way, a riff on W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming.” Another great poem you should probably read if you haven’t. “The Second Coming of Dagon,” however, is about Cthulhu. Specifically, the events of Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” Loved creating the imagery for this. That’s the best part about writing. Stringing words together to make mind-pictures. I word good.
ASTROLOGY: Another cheerful poem. The important bit is in the last line: “restart the whole loop.” Read this book again. Recommend it to your friends. Make me feel that my degree in English was justified. That sort of thing. Thanks for sticking around.
RECOMMENDED READING
Hey kids! Want to check out what inspired this collection? *shouts of “yeah, yeah!”* Well, here’s a list of media linked to this project in some way! If you’d like, the bullet points serve as tick boxes! Why am I so excited about that?
(Disclaimer: A good lot of these have objectionable elements. Caveat emptor and so on. They are in no particular order of merit.)
Authors:
o Brian McNaughton
o Rudyard Kipling
o H.P. Lovecraft
o Robert E. Howard
o W.B. Yeats
o Edward, Lord Dunsany
o Stephen King
o Neil Gaiman
o Edgar Alan Poe
o Joe Hill
o Jonathan L. Howard
o Clark Ashton Smith
o Bram Stoker
o Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
o Sheridan Le Fanu
o Richard Matheson
o Dan Simmons
o John Ajvide Lindqvist
o Eddie Lenihan’s compilations of Irish folk stories
Artists:
o Zdislaw Beksinski
o H.R. Giger
o M.C. Escher
o Mike Mignola
o Derek Riggs
Movies and Television:
r /> o Supernatural
o Twilight Zone
o True Detective
o Alien
o Event Horizon
o Ravenous
o Deathwatch
o High Plains Drifter
o Night of the Living Dead
o The Thing
o Let the Right One In
Music:
o The Handsome Family
o Harley Poe
o Nick Cave
o Iron Maiden
o Ghost B.C.
o White Buffalo
o Rob Zombie
o Tiamat
o Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
Comics:
o Hellboy
o Hellblazer
o Preacher
o The Walking Dead
o Jonah Hex
o Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse
Video Games:
o Darkest Dungeon
o Dark Souls
o Dark Souls II
o Bloodborne
o Salt and Sanctuary
o The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
o Betrayer
o Thief: Deadly Shadows
o Call of Cthulhu: The Dark Corners of the Earth
o Telltale’s The Walking Dead
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg Meyer was born in Minnesota, raised in Minnesota, and will most likely die in Minnesota. From an early age, Greg was fascinated by books and by eleven years old he was single-handedly responsible for 42% of withdrawals from the local library. Inspired by Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, Greg decided he could do just as good a job of writing an epic-fantasy riff on Star Wars and the Hero’s Journey. That was not the case. But from then on, Greg was hooked. He’s written fiction ever since. After a short stint in technical school, Greg wound up with a Bachelor’s in English from Gustavus Adolphus College. While at Gustavus, Greg was repeatedly published in Firethorne, the college literary magazine. This encouraged him to submit to the New Yorker. He still awaits any response.
Greg’s writings can be found in Firethorne, this collection, and online at cthulhuwept.blogspot.com. Someday he’ll purchase a real domain name. That will be the same day he updates his blog, shaves, and gets a second date with the same person.
If, for some inexplicable reason, you would like to contact Greg, he can be emailed at
[email protected]. Signing him up to receive pictures of cute baby animals is considered an acceptable form of communication. His password is not “swordfish.”
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