Torsade Literary Space The Totem-Maker: Jealousy (part nine)
The Totem-Maker Chapter Two Jealousy (part nine) It was full autumn, when winds blow from seawards, and dells ringing our land at the height of a long, descending pitch from the mountaintops, yield scents of change, mineral exhalations from the chimneys of the earth, the let veins of dying greenery, […]
The Yellow Press: William Randolph Hearst
The Yellow Press A mini-bio of William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) America’s most recognized name in newspaper barons, W. R. Hearst, was also an active figure in politics; a collector, a real estate investor, a media mogul, who came into public […]
Assorted Opinions: The Green-Eyed Monster
Assorted Opinions The Green-Eyed Monster On a bad family vacation in 1989…a time when my father was, for some reason, going through a Rush Limbaugh phase…we (as people who have bad family vacations do) were tussling over the radio. If it had been pop […]
The New Bogossus (poem)
The New Bogossus Not less of dash and balder—Mencken’s meme Nor so dignified as Nixon’s “not a crook” Yet gusts such that the phrase “retarding wind” Seems summoned forth midst rhetoric run amok A mighty personality bestrides The neo-conner’s erstwhile throne of reason Mother of Jesus! the disenfranchised cry Democracy’s […]
Yoharie: Report from the Trenches (part two)
Yoharie Report from the Trenches (part two) She was sensitive to the critic’s take. Of walls (stone), that she’d seen erected a million times—“Get a sense of humor”; “Grow a thicker hide”…and the several variations: “C’mon, the guys are just letting off steam”; “I dunno…that stuff doesn’t bother […]
Assorted Opinions: A Cross Between
A Cross Between As Torsade’s mission in part, is always to stand for misfits and outsiders, and to help in any way possible disassembling the bullies’ toolkit, the serious question of humor keeps cropping, and needs addressing analytically—whenever we see another rearing-of-the-head, of: “My offense was only […]
The Totem-Maker: Jealousy (part eight)
The Totem-Maker Chapter Two Jealousy (part eight) I was struck by the porter’s manner. He knew something…that in his private thoughts gave entertainment. He was bold enough, this smile in his voice, to ask Lord Sente if the applicant ought not be summoned from the courtyard, […]
Assorted Opinions: Dashing Off
Assorted Opinions Dashing Off “Burial at sea…has always been her ‘wish’,” the captain said. Here is an opener that would make it hard to quit reading. And why? The mystery is in the punctuation. Content creators often have […]
Yoharie: Report from the Trenches (part one)
Yoharie Report from the Trenches (part one) She’d taken atta girl from her boss a couple of times. The trap, being a complex edifice—capable, for taking knocks, of resettling once more into a workable balance; and partly held together, like a wall grown over in ivy, by organic […]
Love Seems Real (poem)
Love Seems Real He knows which attraction Is the more frequently attended And which to shoot will win the prize Smiling hardship collects in her canvas hip-bag Quarters and quarters, yet even on the pavement stooping For nickels, sometimes dollars, all things saved by savers With bitter thoughts playing about her speech […]