Stefan Flanigan
@stefanflanigan.bsky.social
📤 420
📥 156
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Poetry & field notes: Counter/Field →stygian-muse.com New poems Wednesdays • US/AU based
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I write poems & field notes →
stygian-muse.com
Begin here for context, samplers, & my posting rhythm. New poems every Wednesday 10pm AEST.
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counter/field - Poems, prose, and observations
Counter/Field is a poetry blog tracing recursion, collapse, and stillness—where system-voices fracture and memory holds its quiet ground.
https://stygian-muse.com/
13 days ago
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One unexpected thing about running a poetry blog is seeing where readers appear from. Yesterday it was Ukraine. Today it was Costa Rica. Poems travel in odd ways.
about 5 hours ago
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New poem: "West End Tryptych" '...a couple to the left, her voice carrying: “I won’t be sweet-talked into a fantasy”, the man laughing softly, and I wonder if the conversation is about love or something else...'
#poetry
#brisbane
#syntax
stygian-muse.com/west-end-try...
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West End Tryptych - counter/field
Three scenes from Brisbane’s West End — civility, voltage, and quiet composure. A study in how public voices shift tone as the listener withdraws.
https://stygian-muse.com/west-end-tryptych/
about 19 hours ago
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New reflection: On Attention — Vale Ellen Bryant Voigt. A short essay on precision, discipline, and what syntax can teach about seeing.
stygian-muse.com/on-attention...
#poetry
#craft
#EllenBryantVoigt
#writing
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On Attention: Vale Ellen Bryant Voigt - counter/field
“Ruthless attention,” Voigt called it — the discipline to see what is there and what is not. Whether describing a difficult scene or a troubling interior state, she believed accuracy itself could be a...
https://stygian-muse.com/on-attention-vale-ellen-bryant-voigt/
6 days ago
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New poem: "The Ferry and the Tree" 'The river spreads its hands; the sky grows, its blueness distinct behind ephemeral clouds, sun bright and hard, heat soaking into everything, the humidity alive.'
#poetry
#brisbane
#river
#stillness
#australianpoetry
stygian-muse.com/the-ferry-an...
8 days ago
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Vale Ellen Bryant Voigt - without peer in attention to detail.
add a skeleton here at some point
10 days ago
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New post: "Field Notes Between Storms" It contains a new poem: 'Goanna' (no, it's not about goannas, but there's one in it). Also, there are a couple of links, and a subscriber update.
#poetry
#update
#collage
stygian-muse.com/field-notes-...
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Field Notes between Storms - counter/field
If you enjoyed ‘After the Storm’, you might like Day-Possum, Morning River Notes, or A Tiny Deity. They all involve observation and a positive emotional turn. Here’s something I wrote as a craft exerc...
https://stygian-muse.com/field-notes-between-storms/
13 days ago
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I write poems & field notes →
stygian-muse.com
Begin here for context, samplers, & my posting rhythm. New poems every Wednesday 10pm AEST.
loading . . .
counter/field - Poems, prose, and observations
Counter/Field is a poetry blog tracing recursion, collapse, and stillness—where system-voices fracture and memory holds its quiet ground.
https://stygian-muse.com/
13 days ago
1
24
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I just updated my poetry homepage and it's looking a little bit fancy now. I'm not a fan of generic photos or AI images, so I do it by hand. It takes longer but it's more punk.
#poetry
#collage
stygian-muse.com
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counter/field - Poems, prose, and observations
Counter/Field is a poetry blog tracing recursion, collapse, and stillness—where system-voices fracture and memory holds its quiet ground.
https://stygian-muse.com/
13 days ago
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A new poem: "After the Storm" 'The sky is released and changed. An orange haze rises from the horizon to blend with the delicate violet-blue of now-quiescent clouds and a single crow flies south to north.'
#poetry
#stillness
#ritual
Read the full poem here:
stygian-muse.com/after-the-st...
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After the Storm - counter/field
A poem set in the afternoon heat, where humidity climbs and the sky darkens. A bank of pewter cloud muscles across the horizon from the south. Wind rises through the square as a man begins strange ges...
https://stygian-muse.com/after-the-storm/
15 days ago
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Here's a quiet poem from the archive: "The Oars, Forgotten". 'The grass is rough underfoot as I sit in an old lawn chair by the river. Birdsong swells: mynahs, harsh crows, and the peep, peep of a river-bird I cannot see.'
#poetry
#stillness
#observation
stygian-muse.com/the-oars-for...
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The Oars, Forgotten - counter/field
An observational poem: rowers adrift mid-river, oars forgotten, a magpie watching in the afternoon stillness.
https://stygian-muse.com/the-oars-forgotten2/
16 days ago
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It's a tough life, but I try not to complain.
18 days ago
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Important Announcement: I am going to try to get a photo of Molly the Dog this weekend (She's also known as Good Girl, Very Good Girl, You're A Good Girl, Aren't You?, et cetera). Wish me luck!
20 days ago
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I revisited a local spot of great sadness recently and took notes. Twice. I now have one good line and a resonant metaphor that I don't know what to do with. I'm unsure whether that place haunts me or if it's actually the other way around.
#poetry
#writing
21 days ago
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After stillness comes strangeness. 'I heard her in the next room but when I walked in, she wasn’t there there were only echoes.' Poem: "The Beforetimes"
#poetry
#poetrycommunity
#stillness
#surreal
stygian-muse.com/the-beforeti...
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The Beforetimes - counter/field
In the cooking room, the kettle begins to sing, and her voice answers — calling a name I no longer trust belongs to me.
https://stygian-muse.com/the-beforetimes/
22 days ago
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I recently found myself in the grip of a nasty bout of writer's block. Happily, Molly the dog rescued me. All hail Molly!
#writingcommunity
24 days ago
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'After the day’s heat, the sun having dropped and the sky bled to grey, although the jazz singer’s voice is starting to colour the cool air turquoise, each note brightening the shade...' Full poem:
stygian-muse.com/chasing-clou...
#poetry
#collage
#poetrycommunity
#handmade
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Chasing Clouds in the Burrow - counter/field
After the day’s heat, a jazz singer colours the evening air turquoise, a man inhales from a blue cylinder, and a dog dances after smoke on Boundary Street.
https://stygian-muse.com/chasing-clouds-in-the-burrow/
24 days ago
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Thanks, Shevek!! It's always nice to see my poems and images resonating with people, so I am chuffed to no end.
#poetry
#poetrycommunity
#collage
add a skeleton here at some point
27 days ago
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The river is the colour of tea, made with the slightest dash of milk: silt-clouded. Poem: 'A Tiny Deity'
#poetry
#stillness
#poetrycommunity
#river
stygian-muse.com/a-tiny-deity/
27 days ago
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In the mind, splinters— remembered glances, words; small, piercing betrayals; have lodged, are lodgers— little hooks; they refuse to leave. Poem: 'Little Hooks'. Link in bio.
#poetry
29 days ago
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I write
#poetry
29 days ago
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Poems have minds of their own. Last night, voices from a celebration by the river slipped into a poetry craft exercise, and the poem that emerged travelled farther than I expected — a bit like counter/field itself, I suppose.
30 days ago
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Collage: 'Bitch; A Reflection'. Link in bio.
about 1 month ago
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After the art gallery and the museum, past the light’s edge and into a hush, the rough concrete path carries me.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/sodium-zone/
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Sodium Zone - counter/field
City bridge after hours: mattress, tent, algae-slick rocks. The light cuts, metal scrapes, light returns—and the scene holds.
https://stygian-muse.com/sodium-zone/
about 1 month ago
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#poetry
about 1 month ago
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where water stifles the light, and presses an excess of nitrogen into the blood— and waits.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/whalesong/
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Whalesong - counter/field
In the concrete tunnel between the library and the theatre, fibreglass whales hang from steel cables, their recorded song groaning through the space. At night it becomes a gauntlet. But today, another...
https://stygian-muse.com/whalesong/
about 1 month ago
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Bitch; a reflection.
www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
#poetry
about 2 months ago
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In the mind, a few splinters— memories of glances, of words: small, piercing betrayals— have lodged, are lodgers. Little hooks: they refuse to leave.
#poetry
about 2 months ago
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Blogs are weird. Nobody reads your stuff, then all of a sudden, some dude in India is saying "Hey, I like your poem about a possum eating a mango." It's a nice feeling.
#poetry
about 2 months ago
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A poem about a possum (well, some of it): But now, in the pulp-sweet air, the cats are gone, the birds, the tree, even the sky and the hot sun— all gone; now there is only a sweet greenness, a mango— only mango.
#poetry
about 2 months ago
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People often complain about The System, but The System knows best... The system is Optimal. Inputs, limited as they are, do not register the documented necessity of upward reallocation and the requirement to off-board non-performing units.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/compliance-i...
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Compliance is Efficiency - counter/field
A doctrine-voice poem where the system audits, cascades, and moves non-performing units below grade—cold recursion to a chilling clinch.
https://stygian-muse.com/compliance-is-efficiency/
about 2 months ago
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in the half-light the ferry's fog-horn sounds— a dog howls cool morning breeze along the river— the scent of jasmine a rustling flash— on the railing: a noisy mynah from the topmost branch of the tallest gum tree— a magpie's call
#poetry
#haiku
about 2 months ago
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A single-sentence drill: Because the shells are close, I stride toward the bus stop, shivering in the dim light, the houses boarded up or bombed— although I don’t look hard enough to tell: on the sidewalk, I see enough— a mangled bike, a shattered helmet.
#poetry
about 2 months ago
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A new piece today: "Grass slopes down to a sand flat: its surface ribbed with frozen waves, crisp-edged in the sun." Full poem: 'A Tiny Deity'
stygian-muse.com/a-tiny-deity/
#poetry
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A Tiny Deity - counter/field
A poem set at the river’s edge in spring, a child lifts fruit into sunlight—an ordinary act that becomes creation, renewal, and wonder.
https://stygian-muse.com/a-tiny-deity/
about 2 months ago
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I recently started a poetry blog. Today I noticed that someone copied one of my pieces and pasted it into a post of their own, without attribution. Has this happened to anyone else? I made a comment asking for an attribution but did not report it. It's pretty weird.
#blog
#blogging
about 2 months ago
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A flash fiction piece on small childhood betrayals and how they ripple. “Tom kept an eye on the other kids, grouped in tribes, wary of trouble.”
#flashfiction
#fiction
#writingcommunity
#writing
#shortprose
stygian-muse.com/deep-blue-sky/
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Deep Blue Sky - counter/field
A reflective flash piece: childhood friendship, betrayal, and a blue sky that lingers long after the moment.
https://stygian-muse.com/deep-blue-sky/
about 2 months ago
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You said: why do you treat me like this I said: treatment is not an option You said: a treaty is a meeting of minds The waiter said: who are you talking to
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/in-denpasar/
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In Denpasar - counter/field
A fractured poem: memory splinters in a hotel dining room, voices overlapping until they can’t be separated.
https://stygian-muse.com/in-denpasar/
about 2 months ago
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I push. The stone shifts. I push again. There is a reason for everything, I suppose, even Unreason. I push. The stone shifts. I push again.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/the-hill/
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The Hill - counter/field
A mythic poem of endurance: stone, shoulder, and sun in relentless dialogue with gravity and persistence.
https://stygian-muse.com/the-hill/
about 2 months ago
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A system-voice poem: Orwellian, a bit Sci-Fi and, imho, fun: The enemy is ever-present, its design is to kill, And its means is through the sowing of chaos, for It is through chaos that Order is annihilated, And only through Order is survival maintained.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/nonexistence...
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Nonexistence is Mandatory - counter/field
A system-voice poem: the enemy contaminates order, excision demanded, survival rewritten as nonexistence.
https://stygian-muse.com/nonexistence-is-mandatory/
2 months ago
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The loom stands empty. I wrap a sinewy thread around the loom and pull it tight. My vows are like this; there is no slack.
#poetry
stygian-muse.com/gordian-knot/
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Gordian Knot - counter/field
It's mythic, it's recursive, it's weird, it's dark ... I tug on the spooled threads and start to work. The loom stands empty. I wrap a sinewy thread around the loom and pull it tight. My vows are like...
https://stygian-muse.com/gordian-knot/
2 months ago
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Once, when I walked, the earth would list, and storms make way for my coming.
#poetry
link to full poem in comments
2 months ago
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An excerpt from today's piece: A ringtail possum, cat-nervous, scurries along the powerline to the mango tree, in thrall to the scent that, in the full light of day— has drawn it out of hiding, to here, now.
#poetry
2 months ago
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There are no words for this feeling— broken chair empty cardboard box lost in a strange city. I sit, and wait for the words to come they don’t
#poetry
2 months ago
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A syntax experiment in the outsider tradition. Warning: vivid, unsettling imagery: visions confirm when i was sleeping last week ten dog walkers broke into my apartment and put microchip transmitters in my eyes they are trying to see what i see but they do not have the second sight
#poetry
2 months ago
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The words were lithe, slipping out of mind as soon as they entered and in their wake was a bafflement, a blue void that with absence spoke volumes, and its blueness was my mind
#poetry
2 months ago
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Her eyes lift to the window, mapped with raindrops— one drop among many is sliding a jagged route down the glass.
#poetry
2 months ago
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1. Lay the body’s length on a bed of ash. Do not look at the face for too long. — poetry
2 months ago
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The grass is rough underfoot as I sit in an old lawn chair by the river. Birdsong swells: mynahs, harsh crows, and the peep, peep of a river-bird I cannot see.
#poetry
3 months ago
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I write poems & field notes →
stygian-muse.com/start-here/
Begin here for context, samplers, & my posting rhythm. New poems every Tue & Thu.
#poetry
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Start Here - Counter/Field
Welcome. This is where I post poems and prose once or twice a week — some pieces are warm, some sharp, and some strange. I think of the blog as a field: a space where ideas and images accumulate — and...
https://stygian-muse.com/start-here/
3 months ago
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It is, without exception, forbidden to speak of things as Entropy — this lie must not be countenanced. |dependency status: undetermined| Survival is Order, and Order is Survival. Survival≠is≠order, order is— surviv—
#poetry
3 months ago
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