Filigree and Fire - Poetry, Art, Journeys | Graeme McAllister | Substack

A Metaphysical Poem

Nov 7, 2024 • Graeme McAllister

Chantry-Circuitry

Chantry Circuitry Part 14 - Call to The Spiral

I call to you, O Spiral. Roll experiential load From outer to the liminal On the soul’s spinal road

24 hrs ago • Graeme McAllister

Chantry Circuitry Part 13 - Call to The Hermit

I call to you, O Hermit, At the bridging interlude. Guiding lamp, steady, lit Along the roads of solitude.

Feb 3 • Graeme McAllister

Chantry Circuitry Part 12 - Call to The Chasm

I call you, O Chasm Deep. The fires of foundation Waiting within my sleep Long for reconnection.

Jan 28 • Graeme McAllister

Chantry Circuitry Part 11 - Call to Silence

I call to you, O Silence Below waking, outside dream. I hang in your embrace, The players dress the scene.

Jan 20 • Graeme McAllister

Chaos Charms

Chaos Charms Part 21 - Meaning Melts

The crooked collapses to potential In a resting reflection moment. A burdened head abandons tail. Every silver nerve is spent.

Oct 22, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Chaos Charms Part 20 - Passion Spits Oil On Fire

Nouns Explode in a New Sun. The Language maze collapses. Ice barricades flow and run Washing watercolour maps.

Oct 15, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Chaos Charms Part 19 - Brightest Suns Shine Blue

Brightest suns shine blue All that fire pulsing tranquil We fly over pushing through Raging reds and yellow yells

Oct 7, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Chaos Charms Part 18 - Limbic Laboratory

Atomic insight splits assumption. I light my limbic laboratory To spark a second sun On eye’s edge, all entirety.

Sep 30, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Hypnos Hermes

Desert Elemental

Swift impressions slow into An ancient desert elemental. Sparkling sheets and molten flow Carve a figure of hardened crystal.

Apr 15, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

A Thousand Tempting Solar Songs

I am all places, always and absent. Burn my brittle voice! A thousand tempting solar songs Collapse consequence and choice.

Apr 8, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

The Neptunian Shepherd

FREE Amazon Book - Please enjoy this excerpt from Hypnos Hermes - link included for the free Amazon Kindle book.

Apr 1, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

She seems dressed in all the blooms Of summered centuries. Violet and scarlet, surge, and riot, Still, she clasps her mysteries.

Mar 11, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Filigree and Fire

Evolutionary Exile

Soft chimes play on my ribcage; Neanderthal, alien That blinking lights can't lull to sleep.

Mar 5, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

March Movements

Quiet blooms flex steel strandsBending, breaking earthly bones.Precision moves beneath the sands;Revealing, raising painted thrones.

Mar 1, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Words gathered, grown, lie in bundles, Gardener’s gifts or scientist’s samples? Carried gently past expectant faces, Strive to flee parental pages.

Feb 28, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Desire moves like dancing dust, Slips between sunlit shafts, Strong as dawn, Soft as dusk, Curves around imagined paths.

Feb 12, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Sovereigns of the Seasons

Solstice Promises

Sun hides for many moons, Lethargic laps, sets, rises. Chilled cries and soft moans Wait for solstice promises.

Dec 21, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Sleepers’ Shadows

Eyes droop like sullen skies.Wind times drifting heartbeats.Minds loosening their tiesFollowing the sun’s retreat.

Dec 5, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Memories coalesce, law lapses. Ripe mulch erupts outside reason. Seed to stem, the map collapses Fungal fruits speaking treason.

Nov 17, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Monarch, Architect, and Mason

Monarch, architect, and mason Descends on wire breath Onto silvered bastions. Filigree forest, web wreath.

Oct 26, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

Reviews

McAllister's Mates Twenty Nine

Two strange, diverse, and very enjoyable sci-fi stories from Stefan Baciu and Victor Jimenez.

Feb 9 • Graeme McAllister

McAllister's Mates Twenty Eight

Two beautiful and uplifting pieces that celebrate Ireland bringing forth plenty of mystery and wonder, from Caroline Barnard-Smith and James Anthony…

Feb 1 • Graeme McAllister

McAllister's Mates Twenty Seven

A highly inventive and engrossing science fiction saga by The Black Knight This is a long, involved story that I decided to give its own solo review to.

Jan 24 • Graeme McAllister

McAllister's Mates Twenty Six

Two horror pieces today, both deliver scary premises while also contemplating the nature of the soul. Please enjoy this fine work from LiudmilaBrus1 and…

Jan 18 • Graeme McAllister

Stories

The sun set in a vibrant orange haze shot through with unwelcome teal streaks.

Nov 24, 2024 • Graeme McAllister

The dream comes at irregular intervals; details replicated with clockwork precision each time, a fog-shrouded landscape, the horizon a billowing grey…

Nov 9, 2024 • Graeme McAllister

The Serpent Path

A great stone head surveys the desert, the crowned tip of an iceberg reaching into an ocean of sand.

Oct 16, 2024 • Graeme McAllister

The Temple Throne

Do the great sandstone blocks remember their function as components of the temple? Did they draw down the breath of heaven?

Oct 12, 2024 • Graeme McAllister

Thoughts and Essays

Why the Obsession with Poetry?

Something of my manifesto (oh how VERY teenage) and perhaps mission statement (oh how VERY corporate) as a writer.

Jun 18, 2025 • Graeme McAllister

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