Why Runiad as the title of the epic poem I have just completed?

Rune is a word which may be translated as ‘a secret, a mystery, a rumour or a whisper’. It can also suggest an enigmatic or incantatory line of verse. I chose Runiad as a contrast to the term “Ruliad” – which is a mathematical term defined as the sum of all possible theorems. My Runiad is therefore intended as an imaginary sum, the sum of all possible rumours, spells and charms. I wrote the poem over the years 2023 to 2025. It traces certain of my own experiences during that time, as well as the gossip heard, the rumours circulating during that time, the so-called conspiracy theories (as opposed to provable theorems).

When I began it, I had no further clue as to what its content might be. I knew that there would be twenty-four books, each twenty-three pages long, with three seven-line verses per page (except for the last page, which could have between one to three verses on it). This would bring it out to being the same length as the Odyssey. It was clear that I needed to know no more than this structure, to have no preconceived notion as to the poem’s content and to only “half-know” what it was I was writing. I wanted the poem to discover its content as it was being written. In a sense I wrote it as if I were a ‘seer’, or, in the sense used by William Burroughs, an antenna; picking up the lines as if they were vibrations or airwaves.

Shiva, the god of balance, was a guiding force – so I tried to balance art with science, legend with fact, love with war, dryness with juiciness, journalism with conjecture. It is intended to be read aloud, and to be read on the page.

The complete poem can be found by clicking on this Heyzine link.

It can be read from start to finish, or it can be read by choosing a book – or even a page – at random. John Ashbery referred to a system of prognostication called “Sortes Virgilae” – by which a personal reading was obtained by opening a page of Virgil’s Aeniad at random. The same method could be applied to the Runiad.