The Darkness on the Train

This morning I read the newest Sirenia Digest containing a nice new Caitlin R. Kiernan story called "IN UTERO, IN TENEBRIS". Set on a moving train, the story mainly consists of dialogue between two characters, a pair of lovers. There's a line I like early on where the both of them shut their eyes when the train goes through a dark tunnel. One of the characters, the narrator, describes it as making another layer of darkness. Which is sort of a way of describing the story itself as one of the characters describes a dream set in what might possibly be a warehouse. Mention of how manufacturing jobs going oversees have left behind so many abandoned warehouses in the U.S. is a fitting, but not so belaboured it becomes allegorical, observation as the strange, horrific, supernatural body horror aspect takes over. There's a sense of doom overhanging the story, more oppressive than usual for the Digest. The descriptions of darkness reminded me of the famous "darkness visible" lines from Paradise Lost.

A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.

A lovely story, anyway, and another good reason to be subscribed to the Digest.

Twitter Sonnet #1454

Explosions part the mind between the heads.
We never question glasses looking sharp.
But spider points refuse to quite the meds.
We ask that vetted weasels play the harp.
Existing bugs would make a louder noise.
Dividing bees from wasps we close the door.
We bandied words describing girls and boys.
We fixed the phony rifle's screw and more.
The time to wrestle passed the spinning leg.
Returning rangs were boom a hunting boars.
Appearing late the lady brought the egg.
A perfect human scored beyond her chores.
The quarry's silent now with drifting dust.
The empty Dalek now acquires rust.