Write By The Park With Purple Mark: "Millwright"

 

The Millwright and
     the Thought-Eater

“I am He who howls in the night;”
“I am He who moans in the snow;”
The Thought-Eater stood in the twilight
with the Autumnal wind blowing cold.

Around the park, people scurried away
from its unseen but noticeable presence;
they fled from its vampiric sway
as though from some horrible stench.

The millwright paused in his babbitting
preparing with care the journal bearings;
his thoughts had left him like a rabbit
suddenly woken from its sleep and dreamings.

There was something that lurked in the shadows
which robbed him of his energy and purpose;
his work forgotten and his mind hollow,
he struggled to get out of his mental morass.

Then it was gone. Whatever had snatched
his thoughts had passed and with some distress
he sought to remember to check the castings
as if he had fallen out of his working man’s bliss.

Like the Soma had worn off and now unburdened
of its effects, he was left mindless
However his autopilot had finally returned
and he was able to complete his task.

---by Purple Mark Wirth 10292011

 
 

William James & Purple Mark's Prompts:                                                                         

1. “I am He who howls in the night; I am He who moans in the snow...” H.P. Lovecraft. Collected Poems ---by H P Lovecraft: (includes: The Ancient Track; The Eidolon; To Klarkash-Ton, Lord of Averoigne; Fungi from Yuggoth; Psychopompos, Antarktos, etc). (Arkham House Edition, 1963) pg. 95.
2. “Thought Eater: Thought eaters are dwellers in the ether. Their senses, however, extend into the physical plane, and any psionic or psionic-related energy use in either area will attract their attention (range of ability or magic equals attraction range. The thought eater appears to be something like a sickly gray, skeletal-bodied, enormous headed platypus to those who are able to observe it. It’s only desire is to feed on the mental energy or prey…“ Gary Gygax. Monster Manual: An Illustrated Compendium of Monsters: Aerial Servant to Zombie. (TSR Games, Lake Geneva, WI, 1978). Page 94.
3. “When preparing journal bearings, for babbitting, two very important points should not be overlooked, viz: to see that they are clean and dry. All dirt and dust should be thoroughly cleaned from the cavities in the castings, after which the casting should be dried by being placed over a forge fire, or it too heavy to handled in this way, it may be dried by pouring a small quantity of gasoline into the spaces to be babbitted and then set on fire.” Calvin F Swingle, M.E. Swingle’s Practical Hand-Book for Millwrights. (Frederick J Drake & Company Publishers, Chicago, 1910). Page 164.
4. “’The Savage,’ wrote Bernard, ‘refuses to take soma, and seems much distressed because the woman Linda, his m---, remains permanently.” Aldous Huxley. Brave New World. (Perennial Classics Harper & Row Publishers, Inc, New York, 1932) Page 108.

 
 
 

Also check out my new wordpress website. It's a literary journal I am building up called Randomly Accessed Poetics! Submissions are open for short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. I am featuring more polished literary works, explicit language pieces, and eventually a journal a relative wrote in the late 1800's detailing their journey to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. And when I gather enough submitted works from other people, I will cobble together an e-anthology called Randomly Accessed Poetics.