Kindling by Claudia Torres

Click the image to read the full text of the poem, or purchase it here. 

The Poet: 
Claudia Torres is at home in the woods of Western New York where she walks daily in the park with her dogs. In a former life, she was the creator and host of the public access television show Truckstop Intellectuals, which showcased local artists and writers. This is her second Architrave poem. 

The Poem: 
“Yet upon screwing said song and dance/ I find myself asking “now what?”” Indeed. It’s fine to escape, even fun, but sooner or later it falls flat as a strategy for living. This speaker’s preferred method is chemical but it could just as easily have been food, shopping, sex, travel, fight club... Torres’ speaker knows that these are, at best, temporary relief from the deep dissatisfactions inherent to being alive, which is why the end of this poem rings true. Unhappy at yet another family function, the speaker acknowledges that everything that drove her to drugs still exists, as does the desire to escape again. We can only hope to keep it in check while “Life gives what it can.”

The Design: 
Title & Name: 30pt & 18pt Century Roman 
Body: 12pt Futura Roman & Italic 
A straight shooting poem needs a sturdy typeface that nonetheless has a bit of style. Futura is somehow mostly straight but slightly rounded, evenly weighted but overall a light presence on the page. How else to convey the poem’s struggle? Century provides just enough curl to give the title and poet’s name the attention they deserve.

Editorial & Design by Architrave Press, St. Louis 
Letterpress printed on the Heidelberg at All Along Press, St. Louis

I Flew In For The National Pow Wow - Claudia Torres

NB: In order to promote Architrave poems and poets, this blog will release both poet bios and my comments on their poems into the wild. Enjoy~

Read the full text of the poem by clicking the image or purchase it here.



The Poem:
Everyone in this poem is a visitor; some are visiting from further away than others, but the scene of the poem is still populated by a random polyglot. It is a slice of the world. The majority of the patrons are anonymous, mentioned only to show how a group of rowdy teens is agitating the atmosphere. The speaker isn't exactly behaving, either, chanting for coffee. But then we meet the Indians themselves, standing in line in full dress/...exquisite. They smile, knowing they have everyone's attention and knowing they have won the room from the teenagers. It's a social game we all play, regardless of era or culture.


The Poet:
Claudia Torres is at home in the woods of Western New York where she walks daily in the park with her dogs. In a former life, she was the creator and host of the public access television show Truckstop Intellectuals, which showcased local artists and writers.