To see in red, to lose control.

[halfcactus]

Added Burning Houses & Hush Harbor by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta to my reading rotation because I realized I could acquire it through Shopee. \o/ I've only gone through a few of the poems, which made me starkly feel that I was not smart or literary enough, but Temper/7 Down has sat in my brain for days and days and maybe that's enough. It's part of a section that's formatted as a series of crossword puzzle hints, so I guess it makes sense for me to still be trying to follow the emotional threads.

Here's the full poem, which I worked hard to format with html.

Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, "Temper/7 Down"

Hellions in your novels balled fists Inside trouser pockets. You never let A belt lick welts on a child's thigh.
	Barroom rakes, at the slightest libel Dream of triggers and knives. You never put a wife in place
With a shake or a sharp word. Stones were paperweights for Memos. Knives were cameos
	Mounted on walls or tucked In a safe. And pity the man You would not hate, him you'd
Consecrate with your indifference. Best was how you taught a child To spit her rage like a catcher
	To his mitt, and hurl with all Her bile and length, Neither glass nor stone,
Only the brittle shells Of eggs her throw Broke against the wall.
	Temper: to see in red, To lose control. But also This: to curb, to hold.

I made a Justice in the Dark gifset based on the last three lines:

+5 more gifs

Also on tumblr

Creation notes:

I used a ripped paper texture for the big paper background, but for the paper strips—I was playing around and found that Resolve has a Paper Edges effect omggggggg

For the fonts—I was looking for a suitably distressed font and suddenly remembered Eduardo Recife's Misprinted Type. I wondered if his website was still up and it is! :D I've never really been able to incorporate his fonts/textures into my fanwork, but for this I used his Misproject font.