The Voice before the Void: Arcana, Story, Poetry

A 2021 October 29th Halloween expedition to the world-famous hellgate in Tagus, North Dakota. A Friday afternoon drive. We arrive at twilight to encounter screams of the damned, a hellhound, and a ghost train.“It looks like farming, but truly it is the harvesting of souls.” Nothing happens. Explicit. Includes: An allusion to the 1987 book “The Ultimate Evil: An Investigation into America’s Most Dangerous Satanic Cult” by Maury Terry. A reading of the 2021 March 20 post “The Gateway to Hell in Tagus, North Dakota” by Malcolm Logan at the website My American Odyssey. An allusion to the 1903 novel “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London. Reading some Reddit comments. A reading of the 2016 March 22 post “The Legends of Tagus, North Dakota” by Troy Larson at the website Ghosts of North Dakota. A reading of the 2013 September 1 post “Tagus Triangle…The Mystery and some fiction” at the website Larsen Adventure Chronicles. A Halloween Trip to the Hellmouth in Tagus, North Dakota The Voice before the Void

That dreamers and singers, ever apart from the world, are yet the ever-renewing creators of the world.-The Voice before the Void “Ode” Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Hanging out in the kitchen in North Dakota. “To Everest” from Conundrum Jan Morris

Armistice Day: “At 10 that night without food, we lay down in a pouring rain to sleep. Troops of all kinds passed us in the night – a shadowy stream, over a half-million men.” The first day of the Battle of Soissons was fought 1918 July 18. Blown to Bits: letter to his wife about the Battle of Soissons Robert L. Denig as published with an introduction in History of the World War

“We’ve always known that if you put the Bill of Rights up for a popular vote, it would probably lose.” -David Boaz, as quoted in The Washington Post, “Public Is Unyielding In War Against Terror,” 2001 September 29 What is essentially a list of grievances against the deposed British colonial government, the document is beautifully idealistic in its intent to prevent tyranny by restricting the power of a centralized government. Of course, all idealism has an expiry date; tyranny is as inevitable as government. We crave tyranny; that is, we crave protection from criminals. Not until the tyranny grows unbearable, forcing us to become criminals ourselves, do we crave protection from our own government. -The Voice before the Void U.S. Bill of Rights James Madison, et al.

U.S. Election Day “Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket” Vachel Lindsay

It is November. “No! (November)” Thomas Hood

Halloween: A cultish horror tale. (Explicit, but only for my own vulgarity.) “Sticks” Karl Edward Wagner

Halloween: Also known as America’s Stonehenge, in Salem, New Hampshire. “Mystery Hill” from Ancient Mysteries Rupert Furneaux

Death, only death. “Be Ready” Carl Sandburg

First week of August Prologue from Tuck Everlasting Natalie Babbitt

“I just now read Cummings’ 1932 introduction to The Enormous Room and it precisely speaks as you spoke last night to individual expression as a means of becoming.” Introduction from The Enormous Room E.E. Cummings

Some discussion on optimization of experience into individual expression of personhood. Explicit. “To be a person among people.” Casting our Thoughts as Stars in this Sky

“What would the biological shortcomings of your sensed self be? What is the cognitive drive of alien experience? On what plane does nature relate to consciousness and vice versa? “Also, it’s 80 degrees, eaves and corners are crowded with day-drunk winged things, and I find myself overtly excited by upcoming Halloween season.” Preface from The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes Donald Hoffman

Summer Vacation: A hunk of humor. “The Two-Wheeled ATV” Patrick F. McManus