The Totem-Maker: The Recalcitrant One (part two)

The Totem-Maker: The Recalcitrant One (part two)

Posted by ractrose on 7 Feb 2020 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Chapter Seven The Recalcitrant One (part two)           I wanted one. For no reason but that the thought of a tame, fabulous monster in my possession pleased…I began to see myself in a light, become famous for this or that particularity. Ways and wonders about this tollhouse keeper, tales […]

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Frédéric Boutet: The Amateur (part one)

Posted by ractrose on 6 Feb 2020 in Fiction, Short Stories, Translation

Frédéric Boutet A Few Blackmails The Amateur (part one)                               Marcel Chambrun returned from an evening party at around two a.m. In the comfortable little townhouse he shared with his mother, he made his noiseless way, taking care not to wake […]

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Bride to Be (part nine)

Posted by ractrose on 5 Feb 2020 in Art, Poems

      Bride to Be (part nine)   Fire in the open court, logs arm’s length wide After a day’s burning poled to embers furnace red Men with plucked birds pierced on iron pikes Walk out, lower these where slots Are spaced in the squat stone wall that guards the pit By this light […]

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The Impresario: Epilogue

Posted by ractrose on 4 Feb 2020 in Art, Poems

      The Impresario Epilogue   His showman’s eye, a gift…he’d called it that Boasted how poignancy might mix with horror This he’d known to parse and measure What string to pluck for sympathy; then touch a purse for charity Urge strong men condescend Stare and dig in pockets Give sop to concupiscence He’d […]

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Cartoon Stories: Ocean Going

Posted by ractrose on 3 Feb 2020 in Cartoons

Cartoon Stories Ocean Going       I started making cartoons in 2017, through this chain of events: Reading my Twitter feed one evening, I saw someone’s offensive remark, in support of a certain president I’m thoroughly against. The comment was underneath a retweet; for curiosity I moused over the original. I don’t recall what […]

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My Blog Week: January 26 to February 1

Posted by ractrose on 2 Feb 2020 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   A Palindromic Day (02022020)         Not long ago, doing research reading newspapers from 1989, I was reminded of a phenomenon I hadn’t thought of in an age. […]

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The M Word That Isn’t Moscow (opinion)

The M Word That Isn’t Moscow (opinion)

Posted by ractrose on 1 Feb 2020 in Nonfiction

Assorted Opinions The M Word That Isn’t Moscow                  From one of the books I’m reading, Heaven Cracks, Earth Shakes, by James Palmer (Basic Books, 2012), on the last days of Chairman Mao and the horrific Tangshan earthquake, comes this translation of a Maoist anthem:     The […]

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