WHERE FLAPS THE TATTERS OF THE

KING
by ALLEN MACKEY

Note: Here is an early example of my undying devotion to The King

In Yellow and all things Carcosan. I had thought that this one was
lost for all time due to my bad luck a few years ago but thankfully Paul
Berglund had a copy! I should have known--Paul is a natural-born
cataloguer and collector, a life-long fan of Lovecraft and the Cthulhu
Mythos. Thank you again, Paul! As it is, "Where Flaps The Tatters Of
The King" can now claim its rightful spot in my thirteen-part grimoire
devoted to Zukala-Koth--or, The King In Yellow.

Where Flap the Tatters of the King

Cloudwaves break over the Lake

As the Sage Hali wrote long ago,
From Carcosa the Koth Sign came
And the Madness that is opaque.
The dreamlike play of the Dark Days,
Forbidden, The King in Yellow –
Upon reading one is not the same;
Knowledge therein breeds disarray.

In the murky depths beneath Hali lie

Twenty-three sleepers abiding ages,
The fettered remnants of dreaded Sages
Brooding eternal while others fly
To black unwinking stars in the Hyades,
The King's minions, the winged Byakhee.

Commentary: First published in a Lovecraftian fanzine called The

World of H. P. Lovecraft # 2 during the Fall-Winter of 1994, and only
recently recovered, I am proud to present (again!) a bit of verse by a
young Allen Mackey, redonlent of dreams inspired by Lin Carter and
Richard L. Tierney (with whom I was corresponding with), "Where
Flap the Tatters of the King."