And Still (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 28 Apr 2018 in Art, Poems

      And Still   And still, they know nothing of laying pipes, or stacking bricks They would be curious and agog at these Shyly confer upon themselves nobility Of feeling, of sensitivity To let the layers lay and the stackers stack And still, they know nothing of policing streets Certain they have not […]

Assorted Opinions: Unnecessary Words

Posted by ractrose on 27 Apr 2018 in Nonfiction

Assorted Opinions One Size Fits None                       Have you ever felt that when a celebrated author flouts Strunk and White-ish dos and don’ts (passive voice, adverbs, use of, that vs. which, etc.), her trailblazing gives hope to the little people? (And every time you’re told […]

Yoharie: Totem-World

Posted by ractrose on 24 Apr 2018 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie Totem-World               “There’s speculation Southey only did it as a kind of meta-joke…not to be inclusive, the way we talk about it now, but just to make a puzzle. One no one could work out the answer to. The few times his publisher issued any communication from him…I […]

The Totem-Maker: Jealousy (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 19 Apr 2018 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Jealousy (part three)           Now, the owners of these fields were townsmen. The town, behind its wall, sat central to the plateau, sited high in a bowl among fertile slopes; these descending from a naked peak leagues off, and trimmed by Cime’s boundary road. This, for a space, ran […]

Yoharie: Savannah

Yoharie: Savannah

Posted by ractrose on 18 Apr 2018 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie Savannah                 Mostly people were really gross, and mostly you hated talking to them. You’d be like, “Hey, awesome!” You’d get thx. Maybe a poor lil heart. So, like, I get you. Bitch. That was one way to be. Who cared? When she had an assignment, she’d […]

Yoharie: Stalking (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 14 Apr 2018 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie  Stalking  (part three)             So. “I only read part. When I said finished, I meant done.” “You didn’t like it? That’s okay.” “I think I do like it…I just think… I got to this chapter, something recalcitrant…? And then the hero…” She broke off. She bit a fry, conjecturing. […]

Yoharie: Stalking (part two)

Posted by ractrose on 4 Apr 2018 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie  Stalking   (part two)             But her idea made Giarma that touch more irritated with Hibbler, his intrusion when she’d been rehearsing a talk with Trevor… Not a talk… Just a diplomatic goodbye… And not a goodbye… Just a rejecting of his beloved Totem-Maker… Probably a goodbye… Worse, she told […]