Crooked Keys: Truths, Lies and Alibis

By Raven Bearwolf

Crooked Keys: Truths, Lies and Alibis is a continuation of Hidden Compass: Hunting the Shadows Beneath and Eclectic Journey: Excerpts and Epitaph. These poems speak of life stages and interruptions, ciphers, and oftentimes cryptic perceptions which serve as a collection of the authors insights, reflections and experiences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499081442

Raven Bearwolf

Raven Bearwolf, the daughter of an American soldier and his Japanese bride, was born last of four children. From an early age, her family encouraged scholarship, self-expression and creativity. She continues to create in both written and painted forms. She has authored two earlier books of poetry and has displayed her paintings in art shows.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Raven Bearwolf.

Cover illustration is titled Washington, D.C. by Teruko Bowens

ISBN:     Softcover   -1-4990-8143-5

               eBook        -1-4990-8144-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 12/17/2014

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CONTENTS

Guilt

Ragdoll Drop

Bloodletting

Was Not

LMC

Full Coffers

Daoud

Boredroom

Dream Catcher

Schooling

Imagine

NGT

The End

The River of Already

So Be It

Diffraction

Enough Is Enough!!!

Labradorescence

Hermetic Zeal

Unrequited

One Term

Absolution

Hematite

Futility

Undertone

Sayonara

Rum and Coke

Tête-à-Tête

Nymph

Paternal Others

Grands Maternal

No Damned Good

Ego

Egoist

Psykeyk

Malarkey

Gibberish

Well?

Existence

Character

Id Entity

Just Sayin’

Koko

Contentment

Check It

Rifling

ETA

Aleph Mem Nun

Aleph Mem Tav

Meow?

Age of Man’s Failing

Splendor

March!

Tort

Smiles

Collection

Denied

Renewed

Born to Run

Happiness

Duck Sense

Perspective

Flip Floppers

Yod

Once More

Ivory Imp

Stormy Weather

Six

Reason?

No Area Code

Elaine

Testify

You or Me

Pray When

Bread Crumbs

My Dawg

Next

Diaper Dan

Poppycock

Headstrong

Just Desserts

Shame On You!

Underestimated

Ravenism

Tome

Abraq Ad Habra

Life is About…

Confession

Acknowledgement

Man’s Kind

Teacher

Mark of Cain

Skin Deep

The Message

Weary

Resurrection

Creating

Will

Life

Tick Tock

Seeker

In His Image

Live It

Message

Me

Passing Through

Lost

Ask Not

The Gathering

The Hoot of OWL

BBB

Anew

Judy

Artificial

Arrogant

State of Affairs

Solitary

Forgive

A Sigh

Eclipse

T’s Stang

Tempest

Skeleton Key

Maverick

Withheld

616

Redeemed

Benton Harbor

07102014

Super Moon

Evolved

Cultured

Checkpoint

Reaper

No Limits

L’il Ditty

The Last Embrace

Mystic

DM

Silly Wabbit

Homeward Bound

Waterfall

Vanilla Ice Cream

WRWTF ?

Quill-less

Coursing the End

Shadow Boxes

Living

Hawk and Crow

L’il Denny

Cousins

EV-D68

Gypsy Angel Meta

O-Oh

Hummingbird

My Sunshine

The Time Is Now

Freeform

White Dove

No Code

Meter

Shojoji

CCR

Mabon Moon

66028

Enough

La Maison Dieu

Whose Dime?

Wholeheartedly

The Daily Draw

Undaunted

Collusion

Tempestive

Retort

Step

Time Without End

Taboo

Hallow Words

Doug The Bug

The Dragon’s Breath

Birthright

Carpetbaggers

Propane

The Sybil

The Law of Law

The Being of Stillness

Blue Moon Tales

The Being of Beingness

Dennis

Teruko

David

Denise

Douglas

Doreen

Laundre

White Dove Volumes

So Wrong

Three Stanzas

Annenberg

Twin

The End

This book is dedicated to

my family, my ancestors, and endearing friends

and

with singular appreciation to

Tracey Lockwood, Barbara Webber, Sandy Adina,

Karlene Defibaugh,

Rev. Reed Brown, Sidney Rudolph Boone,

and

Ted Annenberg.

Thank you all for your timeless companionship.

One grateful soul,

Raven Bearwolf

Guilt

Shanghai lies and Parisian alibis

She means to coax all into her web of band-aids

To cover the pain she now feels

The realization that he is gone

Sits upon her chest like an anchor buried in silt

Lost at sea in the tempest of her remorse

She means to honor the love she should have gifted him

While he was still amongst his beloveds

The rift of her manipulation and pay-back schemes

Now replaced by the chasm of convulsing time

Roils in the aftermath of her guilt

For having shunned he who loved her with artesian sacrifice

She gamed his genuineness for her sadistic reasonings

Now she flounders in dung strewn dignity

Born from the collusion of her shadows

1_Castle1.JPG

Castle #1 by Teruko Bowens

Ragdoll Drop

I carried my friends with me

Not bearing to leave them behind

I buried my soul in the doing

And lost sight of my hearted mind

I willfully laid them aside

And let them drop where they may

I lightened my burden of caching

Choosing to live this day

Bloodletting

They were angry with us for not saving them from his blows

Seething

As we stepped aside never seemingly acknowledging their pain

They hated him to death

With every accursed mumble and stolen breath

And hated us more for not interfering

As he lashed them breaking them over and over again

They hardened with subterfuge and practiced smiles

Fermenting righteous revenge

Until the venom clouded their senses jekylling them into his image

The saving grace and offered hands we relayed were late

In all ways considered

These were no longer kith and kin

Brooding misanthropes born out of his spiteful vicious din

While he aged they exacted their vengeance

Artistically ruining the root of their spring

But he died before they could carve the heart out

Of the old gnarled septic thing

We braced for their head on charges

Yet no coordinated campaign they waged

Instead they puppeted to play and to lull our vigil to sleep

To insurrect our foothold ivying with briars well deep into our keep

Of this tactic a few were bemused a few fell a few were accused

The six of six remained untarnished unscathed and unmoved

Their tactics were mirrored and mazed around

Until they were exposed from above the stars through earthen ground

They