Rebecca Tkacs
Bio
Eclectic interests allow one to view the world through many lenses: theological/spiritual, historical, sci fi/fantasy,scientific studies and more have influenced the work presented here.
Stories (6/0)
H.D.'s Imagism Through A Horticultural Lens
Imagism in Modernist literature, specifically poetry, takes a visual and puts it into language that gives the reader a very specific view of the picture the writer is portraying. H.D. (1886-1961) was an American writer who penned numerous poems following the modernist imagism approach. This paper will explore a number of those poems that are titled with the indication that they describe flowers by the sea/water. These poems will be examined from a horticultural perspective and evaluated by their descriptive elements to determine if the poems accurately portray the plants which they are named for: “Sea Rose”, “Sea Lily”, “Sea Violet”, and “Sea Poppies” all speak of the plants in simple terms. Further discussion of these poems will be geared more toward the accuracy of the descriptions in relation to the specific plants named. This is not always about the literary aspect of the writing but rather about the images it inspires.
By Rebecca Tkacs6 months ago in Poets
Silenced Genes
While everyone was distracted with the discussion, Skippy decided to creep downstairs and see if he could get Jeffrey to come back. The outside door was wide open. As he peered out, Skip noticed movement not far from the step. He peeked around the door frame as a neighborhood cat ran past him, inside the apartment and right up the stairs. Skippy jumped and leaned back against the wall a moment to compose himself. Heart racing, he realized his plan was a bad one. As he went to close the door and go back upstairs, he heard a scream. A single terrified shriek. It was a child's scream. Before, when it was all chaos, there were so many voices, he couldn't pick one out from the rest. This was different, the sound ran through Norman in a way he never knew fear could feel. It made him sick inside, he could barely stand. He realized he was trembling. Then he heard another noise, barking from up the stairs. Cedric wasn't too happy with the newest house guest. Norman heard Alice screaming, “Skip? Where is Skip? Oh no, oh no no no. Norman! Where are you?”
By Rebecca Tkacs3 years ago in Horror
Silenced Genes
In the meantime, the traffic jam that happened as a result of this accident turned blood bath caused the bus with the elementary students to let the children out farther down the road than the regular bus stop. The bus turned down a side street and disappeared before the line of traffic trapped it on the main road. Seventeen children between kindergarten and fifth grade stepped off the bus and immediately started walking over to see what the crowd was doing. Ricky saw the yellow blur out the corner of his eye as it took the corner. In the commotion, he had forgotten that he was waiting for the boys, forgotten there were other children – his sisters' friends – still over there too. He felt his stomach lurch, but he turned mid-stride and raced back to the children, screaming, “Hey! Don’t go over there! Run home!” With all the other noise, Ricky knew it was pointless.
By Rebecca Tkacs3 years ago in Horror
Oh, The Places I'd Go...
Years ago, when I was preparing to celebrate my 25th birthday, my best friend and I began planning a trip to a place I had always wanted to visit: Greece. I was fascinated with mythology from a young age; Clash of the Titans and snippets of other Greco-Roman stories fueled an interest that became a lifelong journey of studying Celtic, Norse, Germanic, Indigenous, Aboriginal, and Middle Eastern/Mediterranean (as well as many other) belief systems and the mythological foundational tales that helped to shape them. While I have no ethnic roots in Greece or Italy (at least none deep enough to have reached my awareness) I have a deep emotional connection to those stories that sparked my desire for knowledge. I wanted to see the places I had read about, even to stand where those places existed and feel the power of that space knowing the impact it had on humanity: the Parthenon, The Oracle at Delphi, the Theater of Dionysus, the Temple of Artemis. To touch the waters of the Aegean Sea, the leaves of sacred olive and oak trees, the rubble of what was once the greatness of Sparta, to walk where the battle of Thermopylae took place. Greece was the first place I had ever dreamt of visiting, exploring, experiencing. I was so excited to be planning to fulfill a dream.
By Rebecca Tkacs3 years ago in Wander
Silenced Genes
School was dismissed just after 11 o'clock. Sirens were blaring as the students were boarding the buses; a fire truck and a couple of police cruisers pulled up to the high school with an ambulance close behind. Many of the students were craning to see out the grimy windows, but the bus pulled away as soon as the last student was on board. Ricky and Mack weren't concerned, they figured someone just set off a fire alarm smoking in a bathroom or something equally as stupid. Other students were panicking, some even crying, while many were posting updates on social media, texting wildly or even calling their parents. Ricky watched the commotion, he thought it was all over reacting nonsense. He and Mack made eye contact, Ricky shrugged. Mack looked back down at his phone slowly shaking his head in bewilderment.
By Rebecca Tkacs3 years ago in Horror
Connecting Subconscious Dots
A few years ago, when I was working on a degree in English, I had class assignment to analyze a dream using Freud's method of interpretation. I have some pretty crazy dreams, some of which I don't need (or want) to consider longer than necessary. I figured this weird, but seemingly benign, dream about a couple of baby squirrels would be safe enough. As I moved along the analysis, however, it started to become increasingly, and uncomfortably, personal. It was too close to the due date for me to hope for another dream and even if I did have something else I could remember clearly, would it just turn out the same way? I figured I was in it to win it at that point, I felt bad for traumatizing my teacher. To be fair, he did come up with the assignment, so I am guessing I wasn't the first - or the last - to end up breaking into delicate territory.
By Rebecca Tkacs3 years ago in Psyche
