Traditional meaning: elk
Meanings when upright:
Meanings when inverted:
Algiz can be useful for:
Anglo-Saxon rune poem:
Eolh-secg eard hæfþ oftust on fenne
wexeð on wature, wundaþ grimme,
blode breneð beorna gehwylcne
ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ.
The Eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;
it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,
covering with blood every warrior who touches it.
There is not a Norwegian rune poem for Algiz.
A modern poem:
I'm clinging to your waist
like you're a floating log
and I'm halfway to drowning
not knowing how to breathe with a non-human face.Someone once called me the Rainbow Bridge,
being the crossing point between so many worlds,
but I am neither bi
nor could I ever abide
frost over the surface of this roiling sea
in this metaphor of mine.
I move too violent,
too constant,
for the whole thing to freeze
over, you see.But I certainly feel like being quartered
face from hand from back from limb
trembling to keep my mind
in a bedroom lost and somehow dimmed.
Three different bloods rage inside
and two are battling for my skin
and your fingertips brushing the back of my neck,
the temples where bone and antler connect,
are the only reminder you're here to protect
me, promised by palm to keep me sane
even if draconity ever overcame
me and my body forcibly changed
to that of a beast.Do you think, if a stranger ever saw,
they'd mistake me for a particularly messed-up elk?
Wonder where my eyes went, or why so blunted my maw?
A creature too exquisite for this world, too peculiar for their ilk,
have to always stay on the periphery
or in long-lost bedrooms where nobody can see
the ribbons with every breath wavering.
You will with me stay
until you can see my normal face again
and in the meantime reassure that I'm safe.