Fortress of Solitude

Excerpt from The Jackdaw and the Doll

“Yokoyama’s graphite illustrations …fashion an understated, symbolic elegy for a famous literary voice … Poetic descriptions of Kafka’s storytelling deftly capture the relationship between existential terror and creative production … Accomplished, graceful mythmaking for children who intuit artistic inspiration’s dark side.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

THE JACKDAW AND THE DOLL
K. leads a double life. Timid office clerk by day, storyteller by night. But not just any storyteller. Transforming into a jackdaw, K. takes secret night-flights around the city, collecting moments of inspiration. Confronted by sickness, and “The Shroud” which has haunted him since childhood, K., joined by his new love, Dora, moves away from home to The City of Birds. It is there that he will meet a young girl, heartbroken over her lost doll, and be given a golden chance to share the healing magic of storytelling. A fable about love, compassion and creativity, inspired by a story about the writer, Franz Kafka.

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Dilate

Audio and text versions of my piece, “Apocalypse Now & Again” appearing in the inaguaural online issue of Dilate Magazine.

ABOUT

“This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill, the story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

—Morpheus, in The Matrix

​DILATE Magazine first started in Prescott, Arizona back in 2008 as a paper ‘zine, with the last issue coming out in the spring of 2011. It has been reborn as an online publication ready to change things, to make people think, to inspire revolutionary action, to bring us all together in a time when governments and corporations are trying like fucking crazy to keep us divided. DILATE isn’t a left or right-wing magazine— in fact, we are against polarization completely. This is about going forward, together to create a new way of living, for the earth and humans and all other species living on this rock. DILATE is the red pill, and we hope you stick around (and come back) to go further down this rabbit hole with us. 

Tawanda Jazz Avatar

Tawanda Jazz, Editor & Founder

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Jackdaw and the Doll (2nd Edition)

After a brief period of being out of print, a new edition of The Jackdaw and the Doll is now available.
“Yokoyama’s graphite illustrations …fashion an understated, symbolic elegy for a famous literary voice … Poetic descriptions of Kafka’s storytelling deftly capture the relationship between existential terror and creative production … Accomplished, graceful mythmaking for children who intuit artistic inspiration’s dark side.” — KIRKUS REVIEWS
ABOUT
K. leads a double life. Timid office clerk by day, storyteller by night. But not just any storyteller. Transforming into a jackdaw, K. takes secret night-flights around the city, collecting moments of inspiration. Confronted by sickness, and “The Shroud” which has haunted him since childhood, K., joined by his new love, Dora, moves away from home to The City of Birds. It is there that he will meet a young girl, heartbroken over her lost doll, and be given a golden chance to share the healing magic of storytelling. A fable about love, compassion and creativity, inspired by a story about the writer, Franz Kafka.
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Days of Lives

From the series, Japan Poems.

Umbrella between friends,

shadows cast for none to see–

Summer festival.

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Accord

From the series, Japan Poems.

At the festival,

clouds and sunshine commingle–

Drums thunder in sync.

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Sensorial

From the series, Japan Poems.

Wherever you go,

rhythm feeds the spectral flow–

A moveable feast.

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No Godot Here

From the series, Japan Poems.

Waiting in the rain

for a train that never comes–

Blues for Dr. Seuss.

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Gloam

From the series, Japan Poems.

Strangers on a bridge,

enveloped in twilight mist–

Songs for vanishing.

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Blue

From the series, Japan Poems.

Blue umbrella floats

over the course of a bridge–

Longing traced in mist.

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Tender

From the series, Japan Poems.

The grass grows greener

beneath a shared umbrella–

Tender shoots tremble.

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