Poetry : The Million Names of Azathoth

A series of Scifaiku from Romeo Esparrago.

I. Before.

Before the first light
it was, and it hungered, blind:
father, mother, maw.

II. The Chains.

Ultimatium :
binds the Abyss. Still it dreams,
and its dreams reach out.

III. Hundun.

Faceless scarlet sack,
in China it wore no eyes.
Bored open, it laughed.

IV. Tiamat

Tiamat, salt-dark,
births dragons in Babylon.
Her corpse roofs the sky.

V. Naga Padoha

Naga Padoha
strains the iron, Batak-bound.
The earth-raft trembles.

VI. Batara Kala

Batara Kala
chews the luckless born at dusk.
Puppets sing him full.

VII. Bakunawa

Bakunawa climbs.
Seven moons once, now just one.
Bang the pots, sing low.

VIII. Sang Hyang Taya

Sang Hyang Taya, void
to which nothing can be done.
Java bows to it.

IX. Khaos

Khaos yawns open.
Night and Darkness drip from it,
Hesiod’s first word.

X. Ginnungagap

Ginnungagap gapes
between the frost and the flame.
Ymir wakes to bleed.

XI. Nūn

Dark waters of Nūn
still circle the world’s thin shell,
waiting to return.

XII. Te Kore

Te Kore, the void,
potential without a shore,
ere Te Pō, ere light.

XIII. Kirtimukha

Kirtimukha starved,
ate its own limbs, then its heart.
A face guards the door.

XIV. Rahu

Rahu, severed head,
gulps the sun. It slips his throat.
Eclipse, then return.

XV. The Written Names

Scrolls, manuscripts, books:
a million names in the ink,
each one a keyhole.

XVI. The Dreamers

In dreams it whispers
through prophets’ cracked, foaming mouths.
Fear, then hate, then knives.

XVII. The Price

Altars run again,
the old blood-price for the stars,
and the chains grow thin.

XVIII. The Cage

Indosphere, Abyss,
Void, Pure, Nyx, Lűll: every cage
names another mouth.

XIX. The Flute

Thin flute, piping on,
lull the blind idiot god.
Do not miss a note.

🪐