Flashback Friday: Marionette Illusion

Today we’re going to take a look at a poem written by Kaitlin Artis. “Marionette Illusion” first appeared in the Torrid Literature Journal Vol. X Lost. This volume was published on April 1, 2014.

Flashback Friday: Bernard Berenson Groping for Limits

Today we’re going to take a look at James Sutton’s poem, “Bernard Berenson Groping for Limits”. This poem first appeared in the Torrid Literature Journal Vol. XI – The Butterfly Effect.

Bernard Berenson Groping for Limits

By James Sutton

“My life’s the poem I would have writ,

but I could not both live and utter it.” – Thoreau

When those who follow wonder how it felt

to live in times as turbulent as these,

forgetting that each time has ice that melts

& fire that heats beyond where things should be,

they’ll seek out poets of that time to say

what fluttered in the feeling heart back when,

and what they hear will vibrate in their day

in sympathy to what was suffered then.

A picture’s worth a thousand words, and one

is known to truncate starkly in a scream;

but in the main, when pain & grief are done,

it’s poets who declare where hearts have been.

So poetry has purpose, after all,

provided poets answer to its call.

Volume XI was published on July 1, 2014. Click here to purchase your copy today.

If you’re interested in submitting your unpublished poem or short story to the Torrid Literature Journal, please click here.

Flashback Friday: 3-14-08

Today we’re going to take a look at Erren Geraud Kelly’s poem, “3-14-08”. This poem first appeared in the Torrid Literature Journal Vol. IV – The D.N.A. of a Poet.

3-14-08

By Erren Geraud Kelly

i can find love

even in tears

our calloused hands

shared redemption

my father held on to me

as we both reached back

for lost years

never letting go

  

Volume IV was published on October 1, 2012. Click here to purchase your copy today.

If you’re interested in submitting your unpublished poem or short story to the Torrid Literature Journal, please click here.

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Flashback Friday: Marionette Illusion

Today we’re going to take a look at Kaitlin Artis’ poem, “Marionette Illusion”. This poem first appeared in the Torrid Literature Journal Vol. X – Lost.

 

Marionette Illusion

By Kaitlin Artis

Your hands were skilled

at tearing things apart

and coaxing them back together

with honeyed promises

with mesmerizing lies

you oiled gears,

wound springs,

painted a coat of polish.

It didn’t matter

if it was a music box,

a child`s toy,

or human.

Everything performed better

after you finished.

 

Perpetually sanguine,

you sauntered

on sidewalk ledges,

bounded

from bench to bench,

spread your arms out

and waited to fly.

 



Brilliant with your hands,

better with words.

The first to suggest outrageous ideas,

the first to laugh incessantly,

the first to dance

in the absence of music.

You amused yourself

for hours on end,

but you were never

as impulsive as you acted,

were you?

 

You never

lacked things to say,

to do.

Never looked back,

or faltered.

Entirely self-sustaining,

you were proficient with your hands,

and even better with words.

If you’d wanted to,

couldn’t you have fixed yourself?

 

You handed out fragments of sunlight,

as if you had an infinite amount to give.

Was that why you broke

into so many pieces?

You shattered,

and kept it all to yourself.

Your sharp movements jarred

those shards,

set them loose,

let them cut through

everything.

 

Just you

left behind,

but you were already vacant.

Have you always been empty?

 

You were skilled with your hands,

but better with words.

After you cohered

fragments together again,

they performed better.

Yet you left yourself

in pieces,

desolate

on stark stage,

with the forsaken beat of your heart.

 

Volume X was published on April 1, 2014. Click here to purchase your copy today.

If you’re interested in submitting your unpublished poem or short story to the Torrid Literature Journal, please click here.

Flashback Friday: Another Apology of Sorts

Today we’re going to take a look at Linda Crate’s poem, “Another Apology of Sorts”. This poem first appeared in the Torrid Literature Journal Vol. III – The Forgotten Art

 

Another Apology of Sorts

By Linda Crate

 

you reject me like an editor

tossing aside a manuscript

full of typographical errors,

and an uninteresting tale to

be told; all I ever did was

love you, I’m not really

sure it warrants this vicious

hatred that burns me like

a star lantern; if you could

swallow your pride and those

flames a moment, I’m sure

we could piece back some

semblance of friendship, I

knew that I hurt you, but I

only know three shades of

apologies and they’re all the

same hue; I’m sorry if they

don’t satisfy you like vodka —

next time I’ll just pour myself

in a glass, let you drink me

down; let your acids erode me

into a perpetual state of nothing;

anything would be better than

this reigning entropy you sing.

 

Volume III was published on July 1, 2012. Click here to purchase your copy today.

If you’re interested in submitting your unpublished poem or short story to the Torrid Literature Journal, please click here.