Dragons
Among Us
A note before reading
They are not metaphors. They are tired. They drink coffee. They polish trucks at midnight. They teach the second millennium BCE on Tuesdays at ten.
What follows is a sequence. Read them in order, or don't — the dragons have time.
The Cycle
Nine parts
I · The Almost-Noticed
Urban Dragon
“Something in the way he held his coffee — too still for a man waiting for a train.”
Read the poem →
II · internal monologue, 10th birthday
The Child Dragon
“They have made a cake for the tenth time in what they believe is my entire life.”
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III · From the cycle
The Dragon as Prompt Engineer
“He came to own the mind of the machine. Instead — he is in there somewhere.”
Read the poem →
IV · From the cycle
The Fire Station Dragon
“He stands closer to the fire than the training recommends. Nobody says anything.”
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V · From the cycle
The Dragon as History Professor
“His handwriting has not changed in three thousand years. Nobody has noticed.”
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VI · From the cycle
The Dragon Priest
“As if the fire knows him in a way his own face in the mirror does not.”
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VII · From the cycle
The River Dragon
“The water goes. I go. This has always been the arrangement.”
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VIII · From the cycle
Dragons Becoming Human
“I will drown in every river. I will burn in every flame.”
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IX · From the cycle
Eye of the Dragon
“He was invisible to whatever looked out through that eye.”
Read the poem →