To Terms (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 14 Apr 2021 in Art, Poems

      To Terms   If it was forgiveness come for Or, if a jar of minutes had been stationed where a centerpiece might go And every staged remark of the conversation got its candy heart with a slogan bitcher, loser, lame-o, snob, martyr, gloater nuisance to others, at sum, unloved tossed in then […]

Mercy (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 12 Apr 2021 in Art, Poems

      Mercy   You might be the bitter pith Your green unripe skin rasped away Your head shaped like a human skull Bone-colored, soft as a sponge and impressible Eating awkward lunches An object at the table A centerpiece blocking the view All eyes track and scatter delineating the dot dot dot of […]

My Blog Week: April 4 to April 10

Posted by ractrose on 11 Apr 2021 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   Comfort and Convenience           When we think about Amazon, we should think about retailing itself, what Amazon does and what it doesn’t do. Since the 21st […]

Eight: Honesty (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 10 Apr 2021 in Art, Poems

      Honesty   Honesty become a tool of abuse Your hands pumping frankness up your neck-strings, mottling your frozen features with lifelike mantling, roseating from your mammoth pores Soon As, from your salesman’s case you pull nothing Saleable to the present state But bandy, as a bandwidth manipulator Your loutish telling of your […]

Hammersmith: A Daughter’s Sense of Duty (chapter twelve)

Posted by ractrose on 9 Apr 2021 in Fiction, Novels

Hammersmith Chapter Twelve A Daughter’s Sense of Duty             Her father hadn’t seen the host of faults communicated by his offhand errand, the one he had promised Mossbunker he would do himself. “Stage name, that’s the phrase you want. Ask her if it’s one.” Minnie Leybourne, Mossbunker the patriot would […]

A Small Exchange (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 7 Apr 2021 in Art, Poems

      A Small Exchange   A small exchange between the gutter and the feet Wet hosiery and someone letting off corrosive mirth And so having blocks to go She felt uncondoled I mourn with you among strangers Waiting for a split head to hiss out the steam That boils it The curiosity of […]

Marjorie Bowen: The Sword Decides! (part seventeen)

Posted by ractrose on 6 Apr 2021 in Fiction, Novels

Marjorie Bowen The Sword Decides! (part seventeen)                     The winds that round Mount Ida blow At his commands were still; The wingèd gods all circled low Round that dim Thracian hill.   Then, ever blue the tender sky, And ever green the field; Mars laid his […]

The Totem-Maker: Lore and Lessons (part five)

Posted by ractrose on 5 Apr 2021 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Chapter Nine Lore and Lessons (part five)             The sickness touched all who had been near the stones, all who had borne them in baskets, all who had bent their faces close to admire what had seemed only loveliness. The three artisans, their servants and their apprentices, were […]

My Blog Week: March 28 to April 3

Posted by ractrose on 4 Apr 2021 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   Drinking Water           Thinking, about a year ago, of New Year’s resolutions, and thinking of the environment, I was ready to stop buying bottled water. To […]

Hammersmith: Every Sort of Help (chapter eleven)

Posted by ractrose on 2 Apr 2021 in Fiction

Hammersmith Chapter Eleven Every Sort of Help               There were two types of men women fell for. Her weeding partner was of the third. Ralph had been, inclined on their honeymoon to sit by a window, read the newspaper, and tell his new wife, “Go off, look at the […]