Most discussed stories

Sitting Shiva

139139 views77 comments66 favs

When he left home to be a stand-up comic, he broke his parents' hearts.

One Day We Grow Wings

13161316 views77 comments55 favs

Cicadas shed their skin as they grow, leaving crisp hollowed out remains on tree trunks, fence posts, and the undersides of upturned leaves. Tommy and I would collect them in the early morning and stick them to our clothes like brooches. I used to like Tommy,…

Cold, Cold Night

11131113 views77 comments55 favs

I thought I heard Follow your heart On the cold, cold Night of the soul I thought I heard Follow your heart, follow your heart On this coldest night Of the soul Leaves on fire, leaves on fire They told me look Into the flames To

Music

862862 views77 comments44 favs

Without a creator

Perversion

17701770 views77 comments55 favs

“It’s a sad thing,” I said, “when a man has to suffer just for getting a little on the side.”

Give Tongue

14721472 views77 comments22 favs

"Penning a slight of tongue well versed or worse, a salacious lie..."

When Spring Comes Will the Grass Grow by Itself?

17571757 views77 comments55 favs

Lila began to hear whispers coming from her home's air vents and quickly assumed people were watching her. Maybe that was why the yard was not progressing she thought. The unknowns talking to her through the vents had control over everything she did.

Tying Flies

14421442 views77 comments55 favs

He plucks the feathers and winds thread to simulate an insect’s torso.

Threads

17111711 views77 comments44 favs

She said he was missing the whole point: it was a decoration, not an actual pillow. You were supposed to place it somewhere artful.

Eager To Please

20582058 views77 comments33 favs

She didn't care for the taste. Slightly salty and sweet at the same time, but she let him come in her mouth just the same

I Want to Leave You With My Passwords

11621162 views77 comments44 favs

I mean let's be real.

news through a window

14491449 views77 comments55 favs

TV and power cord valorized in dust,/ wires and digital guts unimpaired, I’d guess . . .

When I Lived There.

18961896 views77 comments55 favs

When I was fifteen and we were moving to Mississippi, my boyfriend in Canada told me I was going to live in the swamp with the alligators. I didn’t understand why my father would pick such a hick place. Rob gave me his cricket bat to hang over my bed, a

Admit Nothing

16331633 views77 comments55 favs

Traveling in half-lit fluorescence, she smiles up at me, pale and strained

6 Thoughts on Love

15311531 views77 comments22 favs

“Careful of the shells,” yousaid. I wanted to tasteyour white, and makea table of your midriff. Georgia's just aplace withso little, butan island nevertheless. Sky's a thing weseem to be, when thelight focuses on…

Passion vs. Security

14371437 views77 comments77 favs

They blew in the doorway of the café at the French Hotel like two sparrows chasing each other. Their wings down in the dust, unheeding any danger in their hunger for each other. I knew the man who was about to become her husband, so maybe this was her las

Matisse, in the Jardin des Tuileries, 1904

16451645 views77 comments66 favs

The World's Worst Mime stood there next to the iron carousel, portraying something, and the crowd understood none of it, except that whatever thing he was trying to portray was not being portrayed well at all.

Zero

11941194 views77 comments77 favs

The arithmetic of human experience/ is always a losing game for some. Poor Jane. Rich Dick.

Mobile

15521552 views77 comments77 favs

They stand together in the doorway looking at the crib.

A Love Story

13231323 views77 comments55 favs

The woman abruptly closed her legs.

Aesthetic Strategy

11871187 views77 comments55 favs

it acquires a fine translucence

The Palatski Man

70477047 views77 comments1212 favs

He reappeared in spring, some Sunday morning, perhaps Easter, when the twigs of the catalpa trees budded and lawns smelled of mud and breaking seeds.

Brown Paper

16421642 views77 comments44 favs

“Americans like beer, right?” he asks. “It’s not acceptable for a woman to buy beer.” He proffers it in a brown paper bag.

Listening Room Night

15441544 views77 comments33 favs

The surroundings, he thought, are just as important as what's surrounded.

9/11

14731473 views77 comments77 favs

He laughs and runs just like the other boys even though he doesn’t have a father now, just his mom.

Four Fundamentalist Teenagers In Front Of A Metropolitan Railway Car

16571657 views77 comments66 favs

That morning, four children appeared in front of the train, which was ready to depart

Touchstone: Excerpt 2.

186186 views77 comments33 favs

The only promotion I can do. Excerpts from the most recent book.

I Am Speckles the Clown

14711471 views77 comments44 favs

Food is silly. Eating is silly. Yet the camaraderie of sharing a table is not silly. It is sacred. It becomes silly when the jello arrives.

Existential Weather Report (Election Day 2020)

825825 views77 comments44 favs

Later, at home, on the internet, I assemble fragments of street celebrations from cities one coast to the other. I watch them and listen in the compressed fidelity of computer speakers. How strangely things feel.

Cogito Zero Sum

15421542 views77 comments55 favs

When you encounter a body laying on the road, drive over it.