128 9 5
|
I was working on my dissertation that summer, and I took a part-time job doing psychological testing in a poor public school system. The town would send me around to different elementary schools to test their most troubled children, or, rather,…
|
133396
|
As I walked down to the Subway, I thought to myself that now, after the horror in Boston, everybody looks like a terrorist.
|
146998
|
It is true that the college dogs spread vermin, reeked and shat on the soccer field...
|
132598
|
The Chicago to Denver fast train clocked 90 MPH plus, but braked hard on the long curve through town, sparks ringing flanged wheels.
|
169297
|
Giving challenging patrons funny nicknames is a "library thing."
|
1769910
|
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,…
|
113396
|
Tell people of substance the truth.
|
171295
|
“…And his smell. That Brett smell. It might become my smell…”
|
169591
|
She was skinny and with breasts like a wound up skein of yarn.
|
1225910
|
Fine gradations of the fractional/
fissure the eggshell whole we crave
|
163098
|
The giant hurled threats and insults. He brandished a knife that was a foot long.
|
1286910
|
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…
|
85597
|
|
130190
|
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.
|
131593
|
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…
|
210396
|
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.
|
158696
|
It's because poetry would not do
because the fireflies were alive that night, aflame
|
125896
|
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…
|
156695
|
The border crossing at El Paso will soon be arriving. I'm apprehensive about Mexico, all the violence.
|
174597
|
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…
|
154197
|
God's real name is Frank, and he stops by all the time. He tries to dump that cheap Xmas candy on us.
|
104499
|
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.
|
151199
|
Our Irish tradition is rich in Yeats, drenched in Bushmills.
|
119096
|
Wind was a sorry excuse for force
|
152693
|
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…
|
498398
|
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.
|
143096
|
I tell myself I should have known. You were always absence.
|
93990
|
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…
|
97699
|
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…
|
150695
|
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.
|
