Most discussed stories

Ascension

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He reveled in the chase, giddy when just out of arm’s reach. When to catch him, that was the question.

Not Writing

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I don't look like other poets. / People hardly believe it when I say / "I write poetry, sometimes. / During lonely evenings."

Colonoscopy Serenade

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Retired cantor Janice Woltag Cohen just turned 50. We Boomers all know what that means. It's Colonoscopy Time!Colonoscopy! That fabulous 50th birthday present you give to yourself. Yes, it's yucky. But it's absolutely necessary. (It could save your life.)As kids…

Пушкин и Baudelaire, via странников

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—but night does not reduce me to sleep / the dragging minutes keep awake / the dark that only opens its deep . . .

PUISSANCE du PISSANTS

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Not like a Palestinian mother clinging to her baby shot through the belly or the baby clinging to the last moments of life in the arms of his father who, when the life departed, held him up over his head

Chipping Granite

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I sat at the kitchen counter, aware of a heaviness, a numbness, in my flesh, my bones, my mind. My dancer's body -- short, trim and 108 pounds -- felt as huge and unmoving as the…

A Study in Plastics

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She sat Indian style against the strawberry tree. In her hand she held a little mirror and a note that her father left her that morning. What a night, eh? See you in the morning. That’s what it said.

ice becomes a new marvel

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at all altitudes and at all latitudes / glaciers in furious melt: / both Greenland and Antarctica headed both / to be ice-free isles adrift / and with shorter coastlines amidst higher seas.

Superheroes

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I change things without notice for himto make sure he's ready for the corporate world. It's no longer our goal to watch cartoonswe must now focus on breakfastthenaction figures. "But Daddy," he says. "I likecartoons." "I know it hurts," I say."But…

Bunking off

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He looked like a black paper doorway pasted onto a painting of summer.

Ben Clarone: Prologue Part 2

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This was not the bar that the artist usually frequented.

Hollywood

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I heard that Hollywood is remaking “Thelma and Louise” with Christina Ricci and that dark haired girl who worked on a show that plays on the television. I heard it either from the internet or from a dream. I thought about looking it up, but I don't…

Old Love Passes By Like a Landscape

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from a moving train. The lost ball inthe tall grass still wants for no one. AndI'm suposed to pretend? You got yoursmile from something, not someone. But it took all your long hair in the process. You've been looking for the one true grace, the ultimate…

Meet Robert Grady

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Robert had chopped his hair and grown a soul patch since I'd last seen him. He was tanned, the hair on the top of his head was spiked, and some gray specks were creeping in on the hair on the side of his head. Had…

Anticipation

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before your full lips touch mine.

Doing Time Outside (novel excerpt)

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If you are a family member or friend of a person incarcerated in a correctional facility...

If You Trace Even One of My Words

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with a finger I will (let you) know. If you mean even just one given look at the moon I will know that, too. If you peel off one lonely star and put that shining shell in your watch pocket for later or to skip across your sad …

Zero

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0 is beautiful0 invented by Indians1 you can almost trust2 is poor3 the figure of human nature4 the face of all paradox5 is a handsome man6 a repetitive voice7 is a temptress9 an ugly and noisy digitSo too is 8100 is rich1000 the symbol of strength1 million resembles a…

Alone Before Surgery

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I spat in the toilet.

Atom

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Devour my horror, embrace it as yours

Further Conversation with the Author

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“After your death is confirmed,” I assured him, “a hardcover first edition of your books, will sell for millions at auction in New York.

The Surrealist Corrections Department

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Brett Littman said that he had seen a costume drawing of a squid atop a pile of drawings at Dorothea Tanning's archive. Mr. Littman did not see a costume drawing featuring a squid at her archive.

Unclean

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The first time Momma shows me a demon is during revival week at church.

Our Valentine's Day Special (From The Law Offices of Paul Steven Stone)

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This year, instead of giving roses or candy for Valentine's Day, why not give something your spouse will never forget. A brand new divorce!

The Bird King's employees

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The Bird King's advisors and ministers are a range of rusty kitchen utensils. They all observe a respectful silence in his presence.——Contrary to popular belief, the Bird King is not an atheist. His meathook priests do their rounds at twilight.——The…

His Name Was Do Re Mi

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I unzip him out of skin. Find what is dark and black inside. Mistake jutting spine for zipper grooves.

The Zone of Forgotten Things

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In the zone of forgotten things, everything moves through a weak gravitational field

Escape

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Lothario Jones rounded the corner and skidded to a stop, trying to catch his breath. He was in a tight spot. The Journeymen were still hot on his trail. His Danger Pistol was out of radium pellets, and his once-full Bag of Tricks was now empty ...

Dream Sonnet

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Last night I dreamt of water rose too high.

thing

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