Most discussed stories

The Mouths of Babes

24122412 views99 comments55 favs

Moans and whispers woke me. I rubbed crust from my eyes and glanced at the G.I. Joe clock on my nightstand. 9:36. I pulled the covers back and stumbled out of my room. The living room light was on. Father Osborne's black suit coat was draped over the back of the couch. He…

Hype and Melancholy

13251325 views99 comments66 favs

Sonia banks on hidden things in the minds of other people, whereas I bank on what I know.

Mr. Pickle and Mr. Peet

15341534 views99 comments55 favs

We got a sandwich at Mr. Pickle's, but they cut the sandwich in the plastic. Plastic wrap.

To the Manchester Children's Monster

19841984 views99 comments88 favs

“As you do it unto the least of these so you do it unto me.” —Jesus These children that you murder are not your enemy. They are not your pain or your personal sorrow. They are, if anything, flowers blowing and …

To Build a Fire

17541754 views99 comments66 favs

One frozen hand protruded from the snow.

Beginnings That End

9999 views99 comments55 favs

We had to be very quiet in our hiding place, even though Nathan had a cold.

Season's End

15711571 views99 comments77 favs

Just drank / The last of the eggnog

War & Peace

18491849 views99 comments77 favs

I stand at the edge of the water naked as a newborn. Tiny ripples lick my toes.

It's Not Paranoia

9999 views99 comments55 favs

.

Kite Flying

16561656 views99 comments99 favs

She may never know and it sureis a small world. She may neverknow and they have a list. She maynever know, I'm very grateful.She may never know and I couldhave sworn we were getting along justfine. I refused to say goodbye. I am still wearing those…

Out of the frying pan...

13371337 views99 comments77 favs

the pressure from my lungs threatened to burst my eardrums.

Interstate

19221922 views99 comments88 favs

By Jackson, you called and said, I'll be too drunk to drive. Hell, if I do my very best, I could be blind by Shreveport.

Some Splendor In Some Grass

16781678 views99 comments77 favs

As they lay in the pasture on a warm summer's afternoon, with the sky blue, the sun shining, he looked across at her, peacefully asleep by his side. How he loved her. Their year together had been one of joy and happiness.He idly nibbled on a blade of grass, remembering the…

Jimmy's Glass Eye

17041704 views99 comments44 favs

We weren't supposed to talk about Jimmy's glass eye. We just had to watch it stare at us all wonkie, without knowing a thing about it.

Artist's Statement: Stepbrother

14611461 views99 comments77 favs

Mark Reep is that stepbrother you had a thing for, the one who turned you onto Steve Vai, Stoli.

Against the Wall

15391539 views99 comments44 favs

happily fling Molotov cocktails// against ICE agents in armored vehicles/ and sing the pain of their burning deaths/ as triumph against asininity.

Night Swim

20322032 views99 comments33 favs

She wrapped her legs around him. His hand barely held the rope and later he could not have said if it happened above or below the water’s surface.

Un(en)titled

13501350 views99 comments33 favs

Our trouble decided when the CUNY PhD student, a poet, cried out, “Racination!” during discussion of my poem.

Swimming Lessons

16181618 views99 comments99 favs

I’m from the Land of Sky Blue Waters. I grew up in a lake. I think I’m half fish.

Gemini

17731773 views99 comments44 favs

Not many people like Geminis.

Burn

11311131 views99 comments77 favs

No one believed me when I told them this: I took all of my novels and tossed them into the fire.

Return Trip

17421742 views99 comments99 favs

Lou Ann and Bobby drove in from Slidell and had a small, New Orleans wedding with just a one night honeymoon at the Monteleone because the next morning Bobby had to go. It was barely daylight as Lou Ann kissed him goodbye several times and blew him kisses as his cab pulled…

I Am

25172517 views99 comments44 favs

When I was a boy, I always wondered if Dad were black. No one in our small town looked like Dad. He had the thick features of an Arab. If he let his hair grow, it piled up in messy loafs on his head. Of course, I never asked Dad about any of this. I wasn'

Hail Mary Pass

21552155 views99 comments55 favs

so for penance, the priest gave me the full twelve Stations of the Cross

Because words are insufficient

17951795 views99 comments77 favs

The day you came to the wedding the sky was so, so brightly July./ I saw my face where I left it the last time . . . .

Possible Candidates for Reading to a Crowd

14981498 views99 comments55 favs

"Possible candidates for reading to a crowd" the subject line of the email to myself read. You see, writing can be hard - or writing can be easy. But writing for a crowd you'll see is something else entirely.

Let me tell you about the smell of the rain.

23062306 views99 comments55 favs

You are lonely. Let me tell you about the smell of the rain.

Keys

15601560 views99 comments1010 favs

life, bro/bra

Ars Poetica (for Anonymous)

27172717 views99 comments77 favs

Poetry is my rebellion/ against being what I’m not.

my love for you

14951495 views99 comments66 favs

my love for you/ is like the falling snow