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The Counting House
Akin to a bookkeeper's accounting of what's given and taken in a fraught, uncertain exchange, "The Counting House" goes on to record the pageantry and pedantry of courtly affection gone awry. Symbols and origins of traditional rhymes involving kings and queens serve as inventory, alongside elements of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish and Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. In forensic sequences of inquisition, scrutiny, and reckoning, Ridley reveals the maiden as muse as modern darling - unhoused and exacting - in "all of her violet forms."
79 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 18, 2013
This is a really interesting collection that examines the idea of the beloved through a number of different historical texts. The fragments are surprising, the combinations intriguing. I will certainly return to this collection again in life.
January 21, 2022
Betray a true portrayal - scantily for palatability.
A dainty banter.
You're happiest after.
THE END is a wretched death.
* * *
A silver bell rang out -
foreshadowing
a signal
someone shall cry
(O, how she cried).
and
twenty-four birds shall arrive
and
four and twenty die -
each dwindling a ribbon
with a silver bell.
* * *
(Ibid.)
* * *
A slight torment. You are not inclined to share. Perhaps. In any case. It is unimportant
Maligned with discretion. Without deviation. Taciturn. Your reiterated silence.
You were compelled.
* * *
A privilege. She was not so much. Or not only. Or not in any way fundamental. She was rather.
In service to your excess. Especially. Or rather. For the most part.
* * *
Given brevity. Intention versus result. Or repetition. The very act of tabulation. The bitter tally.
You said. She did. Your Darling of her own volition.
Slap-dashed versus reward.
She shall decide how long this will last and conclude.
Her own accord.
A dainty banter.
You're happiest after.
THE END is a wretched death.
- pg. 14
* * *
A silver bell rang out -
foreshadowing
a signal
someone shall cry
(O, how she cried).
and
twenty-four birds shall arrive
and
four and twenty die -
each dwindling a ribbon
with a silver bell.
- pg. 19
* * *
(Ibid.)
- Recent/failed, pg. 24
* * *
A slight torment. You are not inclined to share. Perhaps. In any case. It is unimportant
Maligned with discretion. Without deviation. Taciturn. Your reiterated silence.
But.
It was very late.
You were compelled.
- pg. 45
* * *
A privilege. She was not so much. Or not only. Or not in any way fundamental. She was rather.
In service to your excess. Especially. Or rather. For the most part.
She was alone.
- pg. 52
* * *
Given brevity. Intention versus result. Or repetition. The very act of tabulation. The bitter tally.
You said. She did. Your Darling of her own volition.
Slap-dashed versus reward.
She shall decide how long this will last and conclude.
Her own accord.
- pg. 63
May 1, 2026
opaque, a first draft. that final section rlly started doing something, wish it was more like that. tbh just read arab apocalypse by adnan if you want to see this form really shine😪
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews