1360 4 3
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Words are not like bricks. The neighborhood flowers from within the rituals that enframe the drinking of a macchiato in a café. Now it hovers over the page.
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87421
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...the shadowy Samantha sitting up in bed...
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117876
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I read it all wrong. In writing her novel, I thought Marilynne Robinson was writing about twins — writing, in some way, about me. Instead, these characters, Lucille and Ruthie, were standard sisters, one older than the other. In fact, Robinson explains th
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108861
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I was quite alone in this small room with the tarp and the dying fire.
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91600
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Vikki respond, "Say big guy, you eat pussy?"
The Mohawk flustered.
"Uh!?...Yeah...sure."
Vikki snickered, "Great. We got something in common. So do I."
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96820
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Night became day and back again in the span of a heartbeat, the familiar strangeness of the sudden change stinging like dust in the eye.
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99821
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His touch, even now, seemed to set off tremors inside her.
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108532
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The combined smells of ocean breeze, grilled cheese sandwiches, incense and sweat and burning herb that wafted over from Shakedown, along with windblown notes from tinny car speakers all rolled into a potent sensory cocktail he hadn’t tasted in far too l
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125621
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It happened right after I had taken my Uzi to work, retrieved it from my Brooks Brothers briefcase, and fired it upon my desk and its assorted discontents, their paper lives bunched together by clips and notary stamps of approval, now set flying and free. I then walked into…
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81532
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78794
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William Shakespeare (a surname that meant "wanker" back in the day, by the way)
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67000
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I remember one time I was downtown when this little old lady came up to me at a café, looked in my face, and said, “You know what?”
I was surprised she was even speaking to me, a young blonde girl sitting alone at a restaurant, with the shadows play
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103820
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You held my hand when I hit the ground and told me the shakes would start soon.
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83310
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A deserted breeze hangs and waits
and talks with staggered shapes in the sky
like a melancholic child,
held behind
and forced to face the wall
as better taught and better-tempered children
dig for ancient ruins
just ou
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127334
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My people rested naked sandwiches on the arms of chairs, and always had an open saucer with half melted butter, a block of Velveeta cheese in the freezer, an open rice cooker.
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101000
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This tanka poem was inspired by news report that the Macy's of "Miracle on 34th Street" fame has a white Santa in front and a black Santa in back.
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650109
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Most of the boys I pretended to marry thought my classroom seductions were funny, but there is a chance that one of the boys turned violent against me.
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120721
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Papa said he'd be in the stands watching: section H, 5th row, seat 35. During warmups, she had looked, during stretches, she had looked, but she had stopped looking right before the race."Don't worry about me," he had said. "Focus on the race," so when the man had said on…
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89621
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But you're everywhere, how can I move on? It's so easy for people to say, Get over it, the ‘it' being the smell of your skin, your smile, the taste of your lips, always sweet and salty, like a carnival treat. Remember that neon night when we knew it was over, how we…
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95433
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Violet goes with her mother to the home, delivering cookies to old folks. She's getting to hate how she goes along with everything her mother asks. Some of her friends are rebelling already, and Violet feels something under her skin. It's still just a dark shape, lurking…
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139300
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You do not open the wound all at once. You do not slice or cut or slash. You stroke, as a lover's finger strokes the skin of her beloved. You slide the blade lightly over the surface. You do not think, I am hurting myself. You do not think, pain. You slid
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82497
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Survival is often violent.
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110140
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She collects slowly
The pieces
Each one
Heavy with grief
Precious and
Also bitter
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108332
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“There is no future in art,
you will not change lives
with flowery words.
Please don’t rock the boat”
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94021
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I liked her when I first saw herShe came to meI liked her hair and body and eyesBu there was something wrong with Her teethScarred beautyI hit it off with her easily at the barThe others didn't like herShe was a cookShe told me about her narcolepsy, ADHD, Tourettes…
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226910
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So we pushed on. Beyond all reason. Avery still with the gun strapped over her shoulder, her close-cropped bangs, her small feet in army boots clodding through the open brown field we were now in. Above us, a wavering circle of vultures, following us, …
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132244
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She lets go and it slides back too slowly.
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105334
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She had a face like a frog: wide mouth, prominent eyes – and when she touched him, her fingers felt clammy on his skin.
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12962112
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It is a well-known fact that my wife sleeps around. There. I said it and now everyone knows that I too know about my wife. Let me just tell you this one thing; she has her reasons. You ask me how I know that she has her reasons, but who would know better than…
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113153
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“But I don't HAVE an accent,” she said. With an accent. “Tell him I don't have an accent, y'all.” Looking from one friend to another. Messy ponytail bouncing. I just stared. I may have blinked. A couple times. Every syllable…
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