Kinbote, Illinois: A Serial

[KinboteIllinois]

Kinbote, Illinois is a series of flash fiction I am writing from my mud hut in rural Southern Africa.

[KinboteIllinois]

Of all the dirt that lay in front of me,
I see only the brown flecks and flakes of dust
floating from mote to mote making friends and
discussing their philosophical woes.
Weeds and plastic bellowing in the wind
below towers of timber decaying,
Dancing leaves singing overhead under
the blue skies of fluffy floating water.
Drumming echoes in the distance of my
Village abode nestled in the bushes,
Many staring children playing football
Begging for food and fun while their mothers
Labor away the days of their short lives.
When I was much younger I saw only
Beauty in the weather, though now I see
All those of who suffer through life's error.
Each night my lonesome dreams waken me to
Captives loudly screaming bloody murder.
I am standing in the country's fire,
East of Eden in the land of erode.
Yellow house flies, pink birds and blue flowers.

[YesNo]

Interesting start. I wonder why you reference Illinois when you are from Africa.

[tonywalt]

Pretty cool. I lived in south africa a while, where in south africa are you living?

[KinboteIllinois]

Interesting start. I wonder why you reference Illinois when you are from Africa.


Pretty cool. I lived in south africa a while, where in south africa are you living?

I’m in the Peace Corps in Zambia. Haha.
I’m from Illinois.

Thanks for the replies!

[KinboteIllinois]

Nuggets of fire burn under her feet
As she walks the streets at night.
Gloom rules this girl
Stolen from home
Sent into servitude
Owned by a terrible old man.
What profane absurdity is this?
That life comes to such an point
Of unfortunateness.
Hope comes and goes
As the days pass by
Along with the taxis
Ferrying her around the city,
But she can only think
Of how it will end,
Good or bad.
How will she escape?
Until this dawn arrives
She can only wander the neon wasteland alone.

[YesNo]

I like the phrase "profane absurdity".

[KinboteIllinois]

He was shot because he’s black.

[YesNo]

I think you need a little more. Who was shot and by whom?

[KinboteIllinois]

I dreamt of monarchs last night flying all around
In the void between my head and yours
Sitting in blades of golden grass floating above black soils.
Awake! Awake sleeper of the land which is forever midnight
where the stars are brightest and wonder is at its apogee.
Passage through the dungeons of imagination
where each cell is filled with plentiful characters
from the flighty and fanciful and perilous realms of Faerie.
Night after night the theme calls to me
And every morning I wake to the yellow falls of sunlight on my face.
Before my slumber I pray to the spirits of fire and God,
Which are everywhere and are in everything.
Bound together as spectres, phantoms in the cosmos, all pervading.
I see you in these dreams each night sleeping by my side
Warming my soul by the bright light held in your hands.

[kiz_paws]

Kinbote, you write beautifully.
I am enjoying these Episodes immensely -- keep them coming! :)

[KinboteIllinois]

Kinbote, you write beautifully.
I am enjoying these Episodes immensely -- keep them coming! :)
Thank you for the kind words!

[KinboteIllinois]

Crawling on my knees through the grass
Trying to catch a glimpse of your face
I see a ring of light, an aura.
It is orange.

[YesNo]

Perhaps "Trying catch" should be "Trying to catch"?

[KinboteIllinois]

Perhaps "Trying catch" should be "Trying to catch"?Thanks for the catch!

[KinboteIllinois]

He was born without a name
Left on a door step in Ohio
By his father Uther
King in Kinbote.

[KinboteIllinois]

Seated woman in meditation
Staring at a vase of flowers in front of her.

[kiz_paws]

What happens next, Kinbote? :)

[KinboteIllinois]

Hidden within these words posted here
Is a puzzle of elegant simplicity
Easy to solve with a little thought.
Though hard to find if one does not see
Each story gives a clue
Each word contains the code
Each character representing an idea
Seek and you will find not what you seek
Experience and you will find salvation.

[KinboteIllinois]

Above the clouds I see the dark
Below the clouds I see the light
In between lies the birds.

[kiz_paws]

Hidden within these words posted here
Is a puzzle of elegant simplicity
Easy to solve with a little thought.
Though hard to find if one does not see
Each story gives a clue
Each word contains the code
Each character representing an idea
Seek and you will find not what you seek
Experience and you will find salvation. How curious... :)


Above the clouds I see the dark
Below the clouds I see the light
In between lies the birds. Beautifully written.

[KinboteIllinois]

Maddie serving as a refugee
On an alien space station
Light years away
Once a slave at the mercy Of the Orias witch.

[Ecurb]

Hints to the solution of the puzzle:

Kinbote is the name of Charles Kinbote, the protagonist of Nabokov's "Pale Fire". In archaic English it was a legal term sometimes spelled "cynbote", and referred to reparations paid to the people after their king was killed. In "Pale Fire", "Kinbote" may also have been an anagram for Botkin or Botkine. Benjamin Botkin was a U.S. folklorist, and Yevgeny Botkin was the court physician to the last Tsar. The flying monarchs referred to in the story might be butterflies, or kings (Charles Kinbote was either the deposed king of Zembla or a madman).

I'm not sure what this puzzle is hinting at (I just read it two minutes ago for the first time), but perhaps the hints I've offered here might help others solve it. Nabokov loved puzzles, and "Pale Fire" is one long puzzle (among other things).

[KinboteIllinois]

Underneath the ground digging out
vast chasms lie the dwarfs of myth
in eternal struggle against
the mighty goblins borne from dark
demons out of the circus of hell.

[KinboteIllinois]

I don’t want to be a legend.
I am just a person.

[KinboteIllinois]

Unlucky, fawning over the length of the grass,
Kissing boys and girls, making momma squirm,
Holding back for more, sitting in the kitchen,
Sun on my feet, warming my insides.