poetry: from "Shards"- Serpent's Milk

I call the spirits
To burn my sins, to penetrate.
But all the sweating
and dancing does not sway Fate.

"Please possess me,
Make me pay
in cruelest turns and blackest pain.
For all I hurt,"
I cry and say.
But their answers hiss all the same.

"The serpent's milk.
The serpent's milk.
Only the hurt can serve you it."

When I crossed her,
four shades darker
fell upon my chains.
A shadow slithers--
won't come hither--
as I lie prostrate.

They whisper to me
"You cannot, through rattling
Snakes and your holy beads,
Earn from the crossed, pity."

"Then please help me earn
Please, spirits burn
Even if I must cremate whole,
For parched, charred clemency."

The serpent's milk.
The serpent's milk.
Only the wronged can offer it.

Take my heart and
bravest parts to
feed the fire high!
Grind my bones
to chalk your homes with
apotropaic lines.

"When lunacy stirs you,
Turn 'way from the Moon,
go to your harmed kin in the nude.

"Drink from their cup.
Drink from their cup.
You may heal.
You may die.
But only your victim's cup will suffice."

Only your cup will suffice.

(c) 2013 Luz Briar.

DEMONIAC Concept Art

This is a concept cover art done around last year at this time. It is supposed to feature Milla floating in the river of Styx. Unseen in this caption is Cerebus as he devours souls, based off of a Blake painting. Much of Demoniac is inspired by William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience” so this was fitting. Not sure how he got cut out of the picture.

More concept art for part I of the story “Innocence.” Milla in a German Impressionistic madhouse where the pages of her diary are sucked into the blackhole-like door at the lefthand corner. The wallpaper looks like prison bars on a curtain. This is little Milla, shortly before she turns 13 methinks.

A doodle of Lady Arteberry. Again with the big heads and the little bodies.  Lady is exceedingly fun to draw.

Finally, a sketch of Buck…licking a sharp object. He and Fonso’s character design are nearly identical, especially uncolored. Another example of big head, little body. Not sure why i draw that way. I can do realistic but stylized is so much more fun!
For a picture of Bri and Orion (who appear in Book 2), click here.
All are pencil sketches because I’m not high tech. Just thought I’d like to share some of the better sketches.
Demoniac: a Memoir and all characters are ©2008-2011 Luz Briar.

poem from DEMONIAC- My Lady

Lady Arteberry from "Demoniac: a memoir"

The angels sculpted you
with eyes on the cemetery
and clothed you in eloquence,
everything contrary
to the wisdom on your tongue;
the prose you speak in dull places
and yet your glass heart thumps
 with an innocence strong as laces.
Lady of mine, what do you sing with your eyes?
What shapes do play in the stain glass, you’d say?
You perch there in church
to look at the glass
and then you are gone,
you leave before mass.
Lady of mine, questions are your crown.
Only you could smile with a frown.

(Poem by Milla Waifly)

(c)2011 Luz Briar.

Ramblings of a Mad Earl: forward (poems)

Forward

In 1830, the remnants of a songbook and several poems were discovered in Tealburrow Inn, Dart Moor England. The writings were of the hand of Lord Constance, Jared Garth Hookwell II, 2^nd Earl of Constance. Enigmatic, considering the man scarcely mentioned his artistic pursuits in life. A shadowy figure in history, the earl’s late sister Andrea Hookwell also left a telling journal that sheds light on much of his hidden work. Relatives and associates believed Lord Constance to be mad. The writings found in 1830 were part of the earl’s luggage. He had returned to England after nearly two decades in Belize. Reasons for his stay in Belize, according to some, had to do with his mental instability. Reportedly the earl was a calm and sophisticated man but had bouts of intense mania, during which he would ramble for hours on end, froth at the mouth and hallucinate. For these reasons, he lived over the ocean, separated from his family in England for their own good.

Shortly after the discovery of his luggage, Lord Constance was declared missing. It would seem after his return to England, he vanished. Now until his wife Deanna Hookwell arrived to search for the husband she had been expecting to return, did anyone note his absence.

Among Lord Constance’s poetry and lyrics can be found an interesting use of coded metaphor, a fascination with the ancient Roman Emperor Caligula and an eerie self-awareness. The hints of a horrific childhood, the trauma of having his sister commit suicide, his slip into madness and elegant self-loathing litter the pages. Important figures in his life make appearances; a relative who isolated and abused he and his sister, his beloved sister Andrea, his first-mate during a stint as a ship captain during the war, his wife, the son he never met, a ward he raised in Belize, and numerous lovers.

By 1831, Lord Constance was officially presumed dead and his young son bestowed with the title. If this is so, Lord Constance would have been 47 when he disappeared and left behind the puzzle that is his life. He never met his son. His body was never found. His mental illness remains undiagnosed by historians who cannot decide if the man suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder or plain psychopathy. Only one thing is clear; Lord Constance had some idea that he was mad, and he did his utmost to hide it. Like his historical counterpart Caligula, he remains an enigma; feared, pitied, lost.

(To Read the Poems:  http://luzbriar.deviantart.com/gallery/29102584 )

©2010-2011 Luz Briar. Characters, Poems, and ALL content property of author. ALL Rights Reserved.