Most discussed stories

No One Will Ever Give You This Poem

23442344 views2222 comments1616 favs

and say did you know it was written just for you? But I will. No one will walk up to you on the busy street one day and say did you know he loved you this much? But I'm telling you now. What good would a pyramid be or a hanging garden or a starry…

Party Line

26292629 views2222 comments1717 favs

Mama reads about UFOs in paperback books and newspapers with big cloudy pictures. Her girlfriends know about flying saucers, too. They get drunk at night when they are sitting all alone in their living rooms because they are divorced or married to men who

First Job

16521652 views2222 comments1414 favs

I thought each day died inside the clock.

He Said, She Said

17671767 views2222 comments1616 favs

Maybe she would get married and have a baby, she said. Not with me, I said

Stranded

15881588 views2222 comments1616 favs

They come to mind/ like ice flowers/ on the small panes

Eggshells

16361636 views2222 comments88 favs

The eggs got badder as the cook got madder

End of the World

39393939 views2222 comments1515 favs

Dear End of the World. We're having a party. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood.

Prairie Yields

17471747 views2222 comments1515 favs

The river’s not/ a river but/ a FEMA map/ of flooding probabilities.

Mabel Constructed the Quintessential Boundary.

17071707 views2222 comments1010 favs

Mabel constructed the quintessential boundary. She carefully boiled down her pots and pans, her jewelry, her copper kettle, and the foils from forty six bottles of white pear cider into a silky metallic stew. Mable smeared the mixture onto a burlap…

Carver Country

27662766 views2222 comments2121 favs

My first love was a woman of principle. Never deny your man was her motto.

A Map

36993699 views2222 comments1717 favs

It was war without beginning or end.

Blue Pinto

29692969 views2222 comments1010 favs

“Just curious,” Sean says, “but what’s up with the old Pinto out front?” She looks at him. “It’s my boyfriend’s.” Her green eyes are flat: What business of yours?

Unseenly

15271527 views2222 comments1414 favs

Over the years, his face began to alter

Someone Emailed Me Last Night and Asked if I Would Write About Nachos.

35823582 views2222 comments2121 favs

I fell into a crevasse once. I jumped off a bridge once, right before a train was to hit me. Jumped off roofs several times. I have a thing for jumping. The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to nachos.

Godot is a Heartbreaking Figment

44974497 views2222 comments1717 favs

Godot is on the way.

Plum-Woman

24422442 views2222 comments88 favs

"...when my daddy found out about Jasper, it was too late— mama was already round-&-radiant with Jasper's child. "

Powerless

13491349 views2222 comments1010 favs

7:23. The grid abandons us.

Love?

22132213 views2222 comments1515 favs

There's a mutual recognition...

Three Mississippi Fictions

43964396 views2222 comments1212 favs

When I was sixteen, my dad’s new wife and her daughter, Mary Ann, moved in, so I had to get out. I found a burned-out one story place on Corey Road near the gas plant. When it wasn’t raining, you could see right up through the roof to the stars.

Not That Kind of Pain

24092409 views2222 comments2121 favs

What kind of pain is it?

On Being From the Dirty South, While not Considering Myself a Redneck

37043704 views2222 comments1818 favs

How to not be a redneck? Basically, it is a matter of volume, ancestor worship, respect for the truth and a command of the English language.

Didn't I always let you have one of my cigarettes?

16901690 views2222 comments1212 favs

I liked the taste in my mouth, mint and cigarettes and fresh and filthy.

Cows

26462646 views2222 comments1313 favs

When you live in New Orleans, the only time you ever get to see cows is at the Winn-Dixie 24 Hour Super Store, in the back between the dairy and the seafood.

What She Remembers (Annie)

26892689 views2222 comments77 favs

The first thing she remembers is sunshine, then her own dawning, and feeling the lumps on her head and bruises on her face and pain in her heart and aloness of her soul.

Bone Dust Disco

28972897 views2222 comments1818 favs

He stands at the 53 bus stop, boy shadow dust-cloaked and fading, jangling her keys in his pocket, echoes of a journey cut short.

Bus Ride

22422242 views2222 comments1313 favs

Pretty boy looks over at me and grins, got a smoke?

The not so great Popsicle caper

17871787 views2222 comments88 favs

"Ha ha!" I said triumphantly, "I've got some left and you don't!"

Rwanda Suite: Slim

37363736 views2222 comments2020 favs

Paris was a better place for African Americans in those days. Josephine Baker sent a spray of roses. James Baldwin helped him find a good apartment.

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

23312331 views2222 comments1212 favs

Then it got quiet again, the kind of quiet that fills a car even with the radio on and the highway ticking away and the corn flying past regimented and silk tasseled.

More from the Chronicles of His Demise

15541554 views2222 comments1313 favs

Only scotch and cheap champagne/ retain their reliable flavors.