Open Sorcery

Tag: poetry

  • I wrote this at the jazz open mic last night.

    I see, I hear, I learn, I
    bend myself in pretzel knots and
    unfold my mind longhand

    I traded the fire and brandy autumn leaves
    for you and instead we squeeze every drop
    of juice we can from this town with gusto and
    verve.

    I might die tomorrow as my hand cramps and
    my heart races in time with the drums in the
    gallery, but in this moment, I couldn’t be
    happier.

    I grew up with these sounds, asking myself if
    silence was indeed the question, peering through
    twelve bars and howling over blizzards
    (January 21st, 2016 comes to mind)

    I became louder than choirs,
    louder than bombs, louder than
    death itself

    but with you, I learned to cherish the silence
    cherish the vulnerable, unfiltered
    drop my volume, drop my sword, my armor,
    my fire
    and here, in this town, with you in this gallery,
    I see,
    I hear,
    I learn.

    -Allēna 8/29/2025

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  • I didn’t mean to get overthrown…

    This piece was inspired by my poem “migraine”, which is published in full here.

    -Allēna

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  • This mind was a pantheon once, and sometimes I miss it still…

    Inspired by my poem “samson”, which appears in my zine field notes from a colder time.

    -Allēna

  • Here’s a poetry performance from the other day.

    This is “bite”, performed at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn in Milwaukee.

    “bite” was originally published in our third collection of poetry, Singing Molten Gold to the Morning.

    -Allēna

  • Well, I can’t sleep yet.

    Have this.

    -Allēna

  • Can’t sleep? Want company?

    Check out this rad Itch.io bundle I’m hosting here: https://itch.io/b/3209/insomnia-jam-bundle

    It’s pay what you want and any shares would be appreciated, as it helps all of us spread the word!

    -Allēna

  • “depersonalization blues”

    these are the lengths you drove me to 
    I don't write verses anymore, I write indictments 
    I built a twisted empire out of everything you were
    too afraid to touch in all of the places I knew you'd 
    never look, and there, in the shadows, I waited
    you did exactly what I wanted you to do. 

    anger is a tool, I made it into an art form because of you.

    I may be half the things you are but I am everywhere 
    you're not, and that's something to be proud of when
    I could outclass you in my sleep by the time I was 
    fourteen. doesn't that eat you alive?
    knowing that you created the one person who could 
    ever destroy you?

    so go on, sleep soundly now, make those jokes 
    at my expense, tell them all I died or went insane 
    because the joke’s on you -
    I may be crazy, but you made me that way
    and I'm infinitely happier when you're gone
    -Allēna & June, 8/13/2025

  • “watchman”

    I am the blank space you seek in your sorrow
    nothing less and sadly nothing more 
    you are the shooter and I am the spotter
    immortal, ever watchful
    keeping lookout for dangers 
    you and others cannot see

    I am the depth of night, the
    tiny pauses between your 
    syncopated heartbeats
    working double time. 
    in the end, there will be 
    no place for me. 
    I learned a long time ago that
    no one would save me, so 
    I built my armor, piece by piece
    and became the watchman,
    became the tower, built my own
    hell, brick by agonizing brick. 

    did you ever truly love me? 
    or did you love the black void
    canvas you could project 
    everything you wanted and 
    wanted to be onto? 
    do you love me, or do you love
    my silence, the fact that I 
    can read you like a page and
    know you better than you know 
    yourself? 

    there's a reason prophets go mad
    in fiction, you know. we see too
    much, we know too much, we 
    scream warnings to ears unheeding 
    what do you do when I'm not 
    there? do you scream? do you 
    sing? or do you cease to exist 
    like me?

    -Allēna 8/2/2025

  • this one is called “sin eater”.

    i think you seared ghosts into my bones
    down deep into the marrow

    and time may be round, but i am forced to remain here
    suffering, as all of time’s rivers and streams flow back into me
    and the specters of all the things you whispered and lies you screamed
    are made to ride with me too

    i am not religious, but i am spiritual
    and i am your confessor, always have been, 
    and i worry i always will be 
    grayscale, amoral, atemporal priest of these jagged streets
    i am the one person who will never forgive you
    no matter how hard you try to forget me

    where can i go and who can i turn to
    who can unmake, unbaptize, undo what you did to me
    when you already tried me by fire and inducted me 
    into your thorny order? so this is my confession:
    i didn’t want this, no matter how much you think i needed it
    and this life of yours? you can keep it

    -Allēna 8/2/2025

  • After a long delay…

    I am pleased as punch to announce that the Insomnia Jam Bundle is FINALLY LIVE!!! Pay whatever you can and peruse stories, poetry, zines and even games from a wide variety of creators inspired by the things that keep us up at night. Grab it here.

    -Allēna

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