Most discussed stories

Jeering the Opera

243243 views55 comments33 favs

.

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 15

12401240 views55 comments33 favs

—Jesus, a snoring cat. No wonder Alex put this cat outside.

Vintage Orlando

774774 views55 comments22 favs

"Benny can't come over anymore." I was 12. Latchkey kid, but we didn't call it that. Mom working in another town. Dad working in another town. My brother. 2. My responsibility. "Why? Why not?"

Muffled

981981 views55 comments44 favs

A poem not about fog written in fog with an erasable pen.

The Nightly Dance

14771477 views55 comments33 favs

The electricity animates my body into myclonic dance. I do not rest. I dance with the demons; I dance with Nijinsky rage. I dance with the fury of Saint Vitus and his wooden cross. My shoes are fashioned with my own fear, tanned and stretched over my feet

Born in 1991

12751275 views55 comments66 favs

Sometimes I think living in a house with so many rooms / you can get lost just making your way to the fridge / should be enough. I chastise myself for wanting more.

Between Love and Hate

12191219 views55 comments33 favs

“There is a fine line between love and hatred.” This was what his closest friend, Bob Sanders, had said to him many years ago. And it had finally and irrevocably proven to be so.

The Death of Childhood Heroes (or "Roadkill")

13931393 views44 comments00 favs

We were pushing ninety down the highway through a stretch of what rightfully should have been called the Badlands. We were both absorbed and coping with the rapidly escalating stages of desperation and so neither of us noticed when the yellow figure stepped…

Smooth and Crunchy

11951195 views44 comments22 favs

No freebies. You want to read it, you have to read all of it.

Vestiges

11111111 views44 comments33 favs

Even the fruit from the nearby orchard (which I, in part, nourish) batters my stone to rot.

Southbound

12341234 views44 comments22 favs

Maggie leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the Greyhound bus window. Over the river and through the woods, she thought watching the snow west of Interstate 95 melt away into skinny pines and palmettos. Brunswick 2, Jacksonville 70, slid by riding a …

Aftermath

12851285 views44 comments22 favs

They waited not a moment longer than was necessary But moved right in and Began their loathsome ch

Apollo (2/2 - sections 3-5)

11231123 views44 comments22 favs

III. Through wheelwind crypts of mystery, through…

The Tesseracts

868868 views44 comments22 favs

From 'Excelsior' (fifth section) - a poem in 9 parts. So this is what begins at thirty? Thirty-five, And waiting. Those make love with water mildly, they That sink and skim the tide's meridian fingers: Brown swans that bob the blue orb's plumbing sheer. So this has…

KING KONG’S OWN STORY(1)

29702970 views44 comments11 fav

The pulsing of her little life. I sniff my fingers, deep sniff, ummmmm! Again! Deep back in my mind, like Momma smelled, spicy and ripe.

Scrambled Eggs and Sympathy Cards

975975 views44 comments00 favs

We spent that entire winter with shaky hands and shrunken egos.

Trailer Park T'ai Chi Brings Wisdom of Orient to Midwest

11361136 views44 comments22 favs

He adopts a stance known as Part the Wild Horse’s Mane but calls it a different name--the Part the Hair of the Skanky Barmaid for a Bleachjob position.

another love letter

12381238 views44 comments00 favs

Pinnacles

12511251 views44 comments11 fav

Pinnacles State Park lying on our backs stoned on hash around a campfire looking up at the clear see-through blue green stars to the other side of the universe I know now you are out there I float up to within 2

Rules, Laws, and Restrictions: The New Society

820820 views44 comments11 fav

#1. No chocolate or dessert ads of any kind after 8 p.m. #2. No names such as Wild Ferret, Backhoe, or Bunny Bacon allowed on the internet after hours. #3. No Smoky Motor Cars It’s the New Society. All will be well, after dark. Remember, only the

Bendable

11091109 views44 comments11 fav

“You're bendable,” he said, and then there was this silence as we looked into the space in front of us. I understood what he meant right off and thought it a gift to speak to someone that did not get the words exactly right, but in not doing so, got…

Paradelle

12241224 views44 comments33 favs

A dying man I'll wake, before the dawn; A dying man I'll wake, before the dawn May come and send me far away to sleep. May, come and send me far away to sleep; Before the dawn I'll wake, a dying man: Come, send me far to sleep, May, and away. …

French Trains

791791 views44 comments66 favs

When I sit in the front-facing seat beside him, I feel him flinch a little and stiffen, not from fear but from aggression.

Kraków Correspondence

14341434 views44 comments11 fav

The SS and Gestapo began rounding us up, at least those who aren’t registered, those without yellow cards, today. Rumor has it they got at least 1,000 and took them to the camp, to the barracks. I tried not to watch and only listened, only heard some of t

Free

13461346 views44 comments33 favs

The print is not ideal, it's true.

The Child's Veil

12441244 views44 comments33 favs

You said yes

FRAT JERK (1960s)

630630 views44 comments44 favs

I threw my cards on the table. The jerk was playing his classical records again. I could hear that lousy music a mile away and he was the kind of kid that makes your skin crawl. But he had a CD sound system and it was up loud this time so that the house

Amen, Hallelujah

13391339 views44 comments11 fav

"Now, here daddy was on the back porch at night talking with some man about leaving."

I Used to Be a Literature Major

12191219 views44 comments33 favs

I remember reading poetry in the library / when I was in college, after skipping / Sociology, Psychology, or Theology. / I remember thinking: What is this nonsense? / I don’t want to waste my time on any of this.

Regrets du Noir

10631063 views44 comments33 favs

You want to be Teilhard de Chardin? You’re getting started way too late. There’s a better chance you’ll be tomorrow’s Peking Man if I bury you in the cellar.