Chanting—red fabric twirling before dancing legs—the sun is at high noon, and they are beginning the sacrifice. Your heart beats heavily in your chest. You cannot speak behind the ceremonial mask. You can hardly breathe. The hands gripping your shoulders and ankles are tight yet impersonal—metal clasps. They carry you forward, up. Thumping swells as […]
Ode 1.11; Gather ye rosebuds Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios temptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati, seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam, quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum! sapias, vina liques, et spatio brevi spem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: […]
Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa perfusus liquidis urget odoribus grato, Pyrrha, sub antro? cui flavam religas comam, simplex munditiis? heu quotiens fidem mutatosque dos flebit et aspera nigris aequora ventis emirabitur insolens, qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea, qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem sperat, nescius aurae fallacis! miseri, quibus intemptata nites! me tabula […]
A very long, thin youth, with a solemn face and immaculate clothes, was leaning against the mantelpiece. As Mike entered, he fumbled in his top left waistcoat pocket, produced an eyeglass attached to a cord, and fixed it in his right eye. With the help of this aid to vision he inspected Mike in silence […]
A poem I wrote at 3 am that pulls from my experience being dragged across the United States in an SUV, squished beside my sisters, brother, and two dogs, with my parents slugging coffee and alternating behind the wheel. ~ Touch the sky with your whipping hair in the window Cold air sweeps over your […]
“The Kiss” To these I turn, in these I trust— Brother Lead and Sister Steel. To his blind power I make appeal, I guard her beauty clean from rust. He spins and burns and loves the air, And splits a skull to win my praise; But up the nobly marching days She glitters naked, cold […]
(By Frank O’Hara) is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastien partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love […]
From an early age, people are encouraged to participate in acts of charity, whether for religious, moral, or civic reasons. The practice of offering incentives for these acts is very widespread, ranging from raffles for fund drives to tax deductions for contributions to charity organizations to school projects which exchange donations for grades. These acts […]
In honor of the date, have a short story, part of The Amateur Cracksman by E. W. Hornung and the very first Raffles story. ~ THE IDES OF MARCH I It was half-past twelve when I returned to the Albany as a last desperate resort. The scene of my disaster was much as I had […]
Here’s a selection of several of my favorite love poems for Valentine’s Day. 1. “Modern Love” by John Keats Of course, with love poems, we have to include Keats. This one I’ve only read for the first time recently, but I’ve found it very interesting. And what is love? It is a doll dress’d up […]