Most discussed stories

Against Disorder

15681568 views99 comments88 favs

It is true that the college dogs spread vermin, reeked and shat on the soccer field...

Rocket

14421442 views99 comments88 favs

The Chicago to Denver fast train clocked 90 MPH plus, but braked hard on the long curve through town, sparks ringing flanged wheels.

Mr. Creeping Hands, Gum-Popping Granny and Crabby Newspaper Guy: Welcome To Your Local Library

18211821 views99 comments77 favs

Giving challenging patrons funny nicknames is a "library thing."

In This Lifetime, Oh How We’ve Drawn This Close

18691869 views99 comments1010 favs

Together at last, we'd gotten this far toward the warm end of those sweet Promises we made, once, with our sincerest written and passed down smart Words, done all on our own deeds, with some real gusto, and offered them as Christmas Lights,…

The Etymology of Fun

12701270 views99 comments66 favs

Tell people of substance the truth.

Cold Feet

18241824 views99 comments55 favs

“…And his smell. That Brett smell. It might become my smell…”

Similarities

17831783 views99 comments11 fav

She was skinny and with breasts like a wound up skein of yarn.

Fractional

13331333 views99 comments1010 favs

Fine gradations of the fractional/ fissure the eggshell whole we crave

David and Goliath

17521752 views99 comments88 favs

The giant hurled threats and insults. He brandished a knife that was a foot long.

Not Good Enough

13881388 views99 comments1010 favs

So where does that leave me, Roscoe Loomis wondered, dismounting his silver, aluminum steed in his sweat-soaked, spandex outfit, and, clearing the saliva from his beard he walked over, checked and smiled, learning that the bike track's timing unit showed it was Roscoe's…

Before She Gets into the Car

947947 views99 comments77 favs

His white shirt gleams

Go ahead

13751375 views99 comments00 favs

Sit right down in the chair. It's a glider, see? Smooth and easy movement without that annoying head-swing you get from a rocker. And easy to get out of, unlike a lounge chair. Relax. "Reba" reruns will be coming on in a minute.

Angelic

13941394 views99 comments33 favs

Remembering his body makes me think of Egyptian cotton sheets dried in the sun. He smelled crisp and clean even after sweating hard. His hair fell in golden spirals down his cheeks, his back, over his forehead, and captured light just like the gilded halos on…

10 Unofficial Jobs Jake Baker has Never Got Paid For

21932193 views99 comments66 favs

Not that their pa really needs the suitcase; he's been coming and going for so long it doesn't matter. The suitcase's just for show. A final goodbye.

When I Asked You to Sing at My Funeral

16771677 views99 comments66 favs

It's because poetry would not do because the fireflies were alive that night, aflame

On a Black and White Photography Tour of the Moon with a Sweetheart of a Ghost hanging on My Arm

13311331 views99 comments66 favs

Suppose you could bend your whole body backwards like she did, you know, like a taunt powerful bow and arrow kit, and push the rest of your truest self forward into his concentrating face, just like Georgia O'Keeffe in…

Mercury Unbound - 8

16551655 views99 comments55 favs

The border crossing at El Paso will soon be arriving. I'm apprehensive about Mexico, all the violence.

The Bird King in Love

18931893 views99 comments77 favs

1The Bird King has fallen in lovewith a radiator.He adoresher pockmarked skin,her neurotic arias,her coldness,her impulsive warmth. 2Tiring of his dalliance with the radiator,the Bird King woos an armchair.She's amply upholsteredand groans dreamilywhen he sits on…

Frank's Sad Xmas

16801680 views99 comments77 favs

God's real name is Frank, and he stops by all the time. He tries to dump that cheap Xmas candy on us.

A Writer Abroad

11851185 views99 comments99 favs

Here’s an obvious fact: I live in Germany, but don’t speak much German. Okay, I speak very little German. Truth be told, hardly any.

The Agreement

16261626 views99 comments99 favs

Our Irish tradition is rich in Yeats, drenched in Bushmills.

Weed Fire

13041304 views99 comments66 favs

Wind was a sorry excuse for force

Children's Time

16281628 views99 comments33 favs

During what's called "Children's time," one day at church Sarah slides her left foot halfway out of her tiny ballet slipper to show Davie her toenails are painted the same soft pink as the inside of her shoe. "Look," she says. "My…

Piece of Mind

51425142 views99 comments88 favs

Samuel wondered if Megan could hear the brains humming, but like so many of the questions Samuel had for Megan, it was difficult to find the right moment to ask.

Impotent

15191519 views99 comments66 favs

I tell myself I should have known. You were always absence.

86.

10151015 views99 comments00 favs

It was late and Manhattan wasn't going to wait for us to wake up. We stumbled off the train — a few puffs of smoke left in our lungs and perfectly disheveled hair that made us look like we were comfortable with our anxiety.Steps weren't getting any easier…

Right Here on Our Stage...Tonight

10741074 views99 comments99 favs

When Madeline became beset with a malady diagnosed as Harlequin's Syndrome she had to learn to overlook the muffled, but audible, guffaws about her excessive perspiration and slightly stooped posture on stage. She was a trooper and said she knew they came from those who…

Buttermilk

16161616 views99 comments55 favs

I brimmed with sexual energy and it flowed about me like a buttermilk, silk robe. Rich and thick, musk-laden and fortified with my own particular brand of woman.

The Man With the Hairy Back

14471447 views99 comments88 favs

It’s strange, what will become of me What my life will be like Since the animal in me Is beginning to show on my back Oh no, no, no Women will never put up with this I was afraid this would happen They’ll think I’m only half a man I’

Goodbye, Brother

18971897 views99 comments88 favs

My brother died in his sleep almost two months ago. He was 25. He was addicted to pharmaceuticals. Two days before he died, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his truck into a highway sign. It was the last thing he owned. He had been living with m