Yoharie: Inside (part six)

Posted by ractrose on 31 Jan 2022 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie Inside (part six)             He hit the blinker. On impulse…prompted by a sign they’d passed, to stop for gas, to close himself for a few minutes in a restroom stall. But lacking decision, he punched the signal up, moved left, accelerated. The truck in his lane sped on; the […]

Eight: Queen’s Bishop (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 28 Jan 2022 in Art, Poems

      Queen’s Bishop   What if we did a game sometime? Reasons not to be arrested she thinks, more her concern than his On this day the two walk through plowed snow mounting the curb socks chunking up with ice, ice seeping into soles No closet space, she thinks of that cold from […]

Catastrophe (part eleven)

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part eleven)                       But what, better than phrases, will permit you to imagine this destruction, are photographs. I have brought back many. I am publishing a few. Look at these, consider these—a countryside of crushed stone. And crushed […]

Depression Glass (part two)

      Depression Glass (part two)   “When you pick one, it’ll be yours to keep, your little souvenir.” Another chin over her shoulder. “Are you the girl with the pretty name? Jate’s?” Jate’s girl? “We’re together.” Merrilee checked her shoes, finding safety to pivot, her Mary Janes toe-to-toe with a pair of pointy […]

Hammersmith: A Prisoner Goes Missing (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 25 Jan 2022 in Fiction, Novels

Hammersmith Thirty-Eight A Prisoner Goes Missing (part three)           A month ago, or two days ago, or some measureless measure of time in between, Shaw had collected a telegram. It was Medlow’s, informing his operative of an ill-boding development. Medlow was on his way.   NT SAT REP N B$ SELL […]

The Totem-Maker: A Mother or a Father (part one)

Posted by ractrose on 24 Jan 2022 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Chapter Eleven A Mother or a Father (part one)                   Chapter Eleven A Mother or a Father   Noakale was Egdoah’s sponsor. I had known it at the point of demanding to know. “What have you sent to the Prince’s wife already?” He bowed his […]

My Blog Week: January 16 to January 22

Posted by ractrose on 24 Jan 2022 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                                 A Word on the Week     Critical Lapses (part five)           At the beginning of this series, I introduced the argument that criticism of popular entertainment is not negligible, […]

The Resident (part one)

      The Resident         Chapter One Dark Paneling     Terrible old place with dark wood paneling, sticky to the touch, white bloom on the sticky. Narrow, inadequate windows, electrical outlets in short supply, mishmash of ancient (not antique) furnishings, to be sold with. Large back lawn features laburnum, undercarpeted […]

Catastrophe (part ten)

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (part ten)                       It seems to me, when my mind’s eye evokes the spectacle…it seems to me that I become stupid again, as I was when the boat stopped, and a canoe landed me on the beach. Once, […]

My Blog Week: January 9 to January 15

Posted by ractrose on 18 Jan 2022 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                                 A Word on the Week     Critical Lapses (part four)           An excerpt from the Rush Limbaugh CPAC speech of 2009:   We see human beings. We don’t see […]