Torsade Literary Space 
Story: Be a Helper (part seven)
Be A Helper (part seven) Langham plied his fork in silence. Bede, too, thinking Langham deserved the sprites unfettered, and might just get them… He calmed himself over ginger cake. There was Mrs. Langham to consider, whose husband thought her not worth bringing along, nor asking what […]
Dum-dum
Dum-dum What the assembly wants to understand Everyone we are on page three hundred sixty-four The hour is near the break Watch through years of circling the outerbelt Neighborhoods go down once the charred shape of a wing shorn Plane was a moment worth eulogizing stamped On the split-levels of a […]
Story: Be a Helper (part six)
Be A Helper (part six) Bede was alone with Langham. Langham opened: “Surprised all this fancywork hasn’t got the rot.” Jorinda’s voice came, before Bede could think of a way to slip disagreement past Langham’s suspicious ear. “Help when you’re asked, Whimbrel. With hands and feet, mind.” […]
From Superstition the Pendulum
From Superstition the Pendulum Your face carried home from the scene of horror Let nature raise you a colossus that prows Prows astraddle the edge of all landfalls Clocks will crack and mirrors stop Unluckiness the hostelman calls to roost The iron ring for a knocker hangs Sounds wood and […]
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 […]