Torsade Literary Space 
Story: The Ad Said (conclusion)
The Ad Said (part three) Along the rails was a place to walk, a narrow trench, not clearly intended…or clearly not intended…for public use. A wrong step could lose you your shoe. More rotten luck if it happened. “I can go first,” Hermie said. “Look […]
Where Fashion Sits
Where Fashion Sits Are you the larval worm in the larder Every feathered pillow has this unseen delver You feel yourself layered in tissue paper Your rat’s race a peristaltic ripple of waxy flesh Your crackling head a pin That glue has brittled in the way of yellowed cellophane The […]
Are You Haunted (part twenty)
Are You Haunted (part twenty) But his old friends would call him a liar, if he told them he had left believing the work would save them all. In expiation, Rohdl could say only that the lie had been told to him. How could it make […]
Caught Alone
Caught Alone Loved one, they gather on the stairs The passageway is closed The door will jar against a darting shape Unnoticed, their kind, snuffed in the daily cataclysm One will tear the fabric Go She is standing in the kitchen of her mother’s house Caught alone Under the popeyed […]
Are You Haunted (part nineteen)
Are You Haunted (part nineteen) He writhed, freed one arm and sat up. His damp hair had taken the smell of Guy’s blankets like a sponge, mixed with the powdery scent of soap flakes. He was full awake. He was almost heartbroken. The window showed a […]
Story: The Ad Said (part two)
The Ad Said (part three) If there was a seat on the bus, they would have grabbed it, dreamed up a dodge when it counted. The sister act had got them out of bus fares before. But so many women seeking this work filled even the […]
Oracle
Oracle Be ossuary of the boneyard Be statuary of the arcade Stealing tale-bearing, stop Freeze in relief but soft Catwalk over the under with stealthful feet An icicling drip of sewer fat Piles on the pit of the catacomb That underpinning of the street A caryatid hefts upon her head entablature […]
My Blog Week: December 29 to January 4
All the Latest from Torsade! Two episodes of Bedlam, with the elder Richard put to rest, and a new chapter that begins with a genealogy project. Three episodes of “Fellyans”, the sequel story to “Be a Helper”. […]
Story: The Ad Said (part one)
The Ad Said (part three) “Girls wanted. See? Good wages. Steady hours.” “But look here. Must pass physical exam.” “You’re crazy,” their mother said. Hester smacked Hermina’s arm. “Come on! Let’s go down to the corner.” The corner meant the drugstore, where they could take a […]
Are You Haunted (part eighteen)
Are You Haunted (part eighteen) Summers had with him only a change of clothes, skivvies and socks, a shirt and slacks tailored to a fat man, packed in a cardboard suitcase. Noting the age of the lock assemblies, he hadn’t since moving in bothered with Guy’s […]