a little book about the devil

behold! – the deception in the details –

a little book about the devil –

This little collection explores the complex figure of the devil – who he is, how he appears, what he does, and what he represents. Like the thread from the stars, this one-of-a-kind handmade poetry book is inspired by the folklore of Angel Falls and Devil’s Jump in the Big South Fork, but endeavors to more closely examine the devil himself, as a character and as an archetype.

Is the devil always evil? Perhaps finding the answer to this question requires us first to ask a few more. Questions such as: who is wielding the word devil? Toward whom is said speaker directing this word? And to what end? Does the speaker wish to identify an active source of violence and hatred and harm? Or do they wish to cast suspicion upon an individual they perceive as a threat toward their own exploitative & extractive project? Is the intention – the physical vibration – accompanying the utterance pulsating with the purpose of illumination… or deception?

Below are 6 poems, pictured & transcribed, that address these questions and more. Let us float downstream to Devil’s Jump and see what we will –

~ Horse & Lion Creative Co. 𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘

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a little book about the devil

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DOES ANY OF THIS AMOUNT TO MORE THAN PERFORMANCE?

they stood to pray over
the slaughter

asking christ to bless
this bloody flesh
to the nourishment
of our diseased and dying
body –

did no one notice
the irony? there

before the devil himself,
a sneering centerpiece.

anyway, we
were not welcome to eat

and as i don’t
desire meat –

i did not bow my head.
i did not close my eyes.
i did not move from my seat.

instead i watched –

all the room consumed
with rot –

for there can be no justice
when judges
refuse to be honest,

protecting the promise

of systemic supremacy –
ignoble ideology

above all obvious
truth:

the law was never written
for the folks beneath the boot.

meanwhile the devil smiles
as he declares our fate
his property – you see,
he’s already spent
the money

to receive his recompense
for our demise.

“in the name of jesus, i rebuke thee!”
flies like daggers
from my eyes.

the court – of course – corrupt –
with all the lawyers lining up
to bill us for our trust –

cannot deliver
an adequate answer
to the question of whether
any of this amounts
to more than performance –

for the stage extends –
becomes a friend
to artifice and order.

but not forever! as masks
will fall – out in the hall –

behold! – the deception
in the details –

⚘

THE BRIDGE BETWEEN

the devil missed the bridge
and fell from mountaintop
into the well, from jagged
rock he rang the bell then
how the screams did swell

to carry him to hell.

you said he stepped
over the edge, going
backward toward
the bridge and there
he met with foot
the ledge
and tumbled to
his death –

the bridge between the breath.

the silence lasted
minutes long
before you heard
the sound, the song
of agony, of life
gone wrong;
the water willed him on,

away without a swan.

⚘

AN UNWITTING CONDUIT OF EVIL

horror is a metaphor –
one for the colonized mind

and all the blood and bones and guts
reveal the sacrifice:

inseparable
from consequence

this magic etched in stone
will come around and echo back
to claim the debt we owe.

⚘

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

they said the land was empty
just waiting to be claimed
by its holy owners where
the son of god was slain.

when they arrived as militants
intent on sacrifice –
not of goats or lambs or doves
but brothers of the light –

they fought as if they had forgot
the meaning of belief
for faith in god was not enough
to bring them to their knees.

thou shalt not kill the law had said,
love thy neighbor well
lest one day you find your hate
has turned the earth to hell!

remember when you were the slaves
held and hit by kings
who thought themselves invincible
above the birds with wings

that carried them beyond the world
to face the fiery sun –
a mirror that reflected them –
the conference – as the one –

for no one reigns above the law
under which we share
our hope and our humanity
within collective care.

all of us are chosen!
no single man or race
may lie to lift himself above
the birds that saw the face

composed of a composite:
a summary of we,
of every living, seeing thing,
of root, of branch, of tree –

⚘

THE THREAD FROM THE STARS

where dreamcatchers hung
tangled in trees
twisted and mangled
they swung in the breeze –

bellowing voices,
songs of the ghosts
grief-stricken, anguished
in search of new hosts

to shelter the spirits
that time had forgot
looking for life-blood
lest they could not

summon their stories
back up from the graves
for judgment was coming,
arriving in waves –

reports that the waters
were winding up red
in the wake of the devil
who jumped as he said,

the heroes and villains
have gotten mixed up –
where one sells his soul
in exchange for a buck

the other is pushed
down into the mine;
he earns a whole dollar
but takes home a dime –

and who of these two
is the greater success
in the eyes of the owners
who keep us in debt?

the villain is praised
while the hero falls down –
they rewrite the rules
as they rob the whole town

then move to the next –
they’ll come for us all
if we don’t come together
and answer the call

to rise from the mountains,
remember ourselves
for we hold the power
twixt heaven and hell!

and as it turns out
the devil was not
cruel and corrupt
as we all had been taught –

he merely revealed
the truth behind lies
that ruled all the world,
laid claim to our lives –

they called him a demon
when he was the mirror
through which the masters
saw themselves clearer –

such monsters they were
and murderers, too –
the devil – the angel –
they cast out of view

but the day he returned
like he rose from the dead
he looked to the ghosts
and showed them the thread

shining and golden,
he spun from the stars
to weave the lost dreams
into light, from the dark –

we watched as the land
came alive with new hope –
the people, the angel
and all of the ghosts

united in spirit
arrived to reclaim
our birthright to beauty,
abundance, the flame

that burns in the hearts
of the free, far and wide –
the time has now come
for the turn of the tide!

⚘

THE BODY

in daily life we are blind
to the depth of depravity.
how such evil lies concealed
and contained within the
mundane –

we talk of currency and ‘economic security’
as if measuring everything in perfectly
countable units of value
had anything to do
with the natural
order.
rather, this
is a conqueror’s trick
devised to maintain power,
lock the tower
and feed our fear of being
who we really are.

realize earth offers all we need
while the thieves peddle scarcity,
disrupt abundance with duplicity
and remove us from the truth
of our own bodies.

realize borders are arbitrary – in reality
we inhabit one corporeal entity –
defined by plurality – we
are flesh and bird and leaf and stone –
the great I AM
the one true god
from first breath down to bone.

i am the body
i drink from the body
i am the body
i eat from the body
i am the body
i breathe from the body

swim through the body
fly through the body
run through the body
jump through the body

rest in the body –

as a singular source
animates all.

honor the god-given
rhythms of the body
and ascension will befall.

⚘

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Contact the dithyrambler to purchase this one-of-a-kind handmade collection for $33 (+shipping if applicable), or to commission a little book of your own. Email: dithyrambler@dandelionscribes.com ⚘

*Note: Some of the poems included here are also featured in other handmade books & digital collections by the dithyrambler. To see how these stories stitch together in ever-evolving ways, check out the following links to more poetry from dandelions & dithyrambs –

–as above, so below, originally published in THE STRANGERS
–the thread from the stars, originally published in the thread from the stars, and again in a trick of the light
–the body, originally published in 13 MOONS