Most discussed stories

Return to the Magic Tree House

11011101 views33 comments22 favs

“You can't smoke in here, Jack,” his father said. “Your mother will kill me.” Those were the first words spoken as the pair rode in silence from Chester County. Jack pulled the unlit cigarette from his mouth and tucked it above his ear. …

The Second Confession

12231223 views33 comments11 fav

Most people come to dislike me because of the things I say.

Tablecloth Dresses: Song

11771177 views33 comments11 fav

I see you’re wearing your tablecloth top again your tablecloth dress to impress me and distress me with all your tablecloth positions for your luncheons on the grass with all your famous friends who found you on your ass Yes we can

Tomcat

13171317 views33 comments22 favs

And, if you look real close, you see there’s a bullet hole next to his left ear. A stray one went past his head and straight through Santa’s heart.

Storytime with E. E. Zulkoski

10811081 views33 comments00 favs

...afraid of cancer, fire, floods, famine, being audited by the IRS....the list goes on and on....

Death of an Eikaiwa

13731373 views33 comments22 favs

When I rolled him under the bed, I thought I would sweep him out later with arms curled up like legs beneath the shells of cicadas I used to gather from the laundry porch and set on the kitchen counter to scare my roommates. At least, I did that until…

Where Does the Foam From the Lattes Go?

10321032 views33 comments11 fav

Where does the foam from the lattes go? I'm not being flip--I want to know.

New Flavor

10261026 views33 comments22 favs

Billy fell into a bottle, and we couldn't get him out.

How to Get Fans For Your Band (or book, start-up, app, whatever)

12901290 views33 comments33 favs

You’re finally in a band that can get through a rehearsal without someone strangling someone with an amp cord over creative differences. No one’s in jail, rehab, or MIA from a multi-day booze binge. The group has laid down a few quality tracks that don’t

Getting By

13221322 views33 comments22 favs

The were two things and two things only in the town of Comfort, Alabama, that were older than Bella.

Orpheus Today

14831483 views33 comments33 favs

It is only seven-thirty but the night is full, gloom seizing Highway 66. There is a carcass on the road, maybe a human, slumped next to an empty ice cream truck. Several stars hang up in the East, drunken constellations scrambling to find meaning.

Delusions Well-Hid from Myself

12491249 views33 comments33 favs

Today, I am almost entirely self-coincidental, though I still feel a lag lurking somewhere.

Over Medium

16001600 views33 comments00 favs

He did it in front of the waiter and everything.

Just Kidding

16651665 views33 comments11 fav

Your place is extra. No it isn't. It is, baby. The man was as aroused by her discomfort as he had been annoyed by her laugh. She wasn't laughing now.

Big Trucks

15401540 views33 comments22 favs

"Pull around," Rachel says. "Pull around him, dammit."

Rudolph Had a Dream

15621562 views33 comments00 favs

The others fell silent and cast glances back and forth to each other.

Job Interview

11311131 views33 comments11 fav

Coming down the stairs, you didn’t see me at all. I watched you lumbering closely. I wondered what they’d done to you to make you move this way.

Making Love to God (or: A Profound Man)

20352035 views33 comments11 fav

"I would physically — not metaphorically, mind you — make love to that avocado..."

of love and death

10311031 views33 comments22 favs

- I wish I were taller. - You also wish I never die.- What´s your point?- Santa Claus must really hate you.------ What´s the most ridiculous thing someone´s ever asked you?- Please never die. - But you promised!------ I just want to go to sleep, I´m…

"Dial Back the Snark" Speakers Scramble for Limited Gigs

10241024 views33 comments11 fav

“‘Dial Back the Snark’ is an attempt to fight the cynicism that’s corroding America’s social fabric,” Myers says, mixing his metaphors. “It’s spreading like wildfire."

I Love a Man Who Whistles

952952 views33 comments33 favs

“Hey! You can’t be whistling on Greyhound,” the bus driver said, looking up in the rearview mirror.

What I Am

15021502 views33 comments11 fav

I am a happy cog

Pacific

11311131 views33 comments00 favs

this orient tide come occident: this roll of wreck and reckoned eyes that fathomless are found or made to find her keep within the tight shut shell in soundings deeper than the plumblined soul these western waves gone east: these…

Writing From Paintings (a meditation on the work of artist Michelle Manley)

11921192 views33 comments11 fav

Since we are heading past the outskirts, we find ourselves with a hidden reserve of valor and ability. What is this ability? It is the way we look now at strange new clouds menacing and waiting. It is also the way we head forth into them and their environ

"Daddy, Can You Find the Cheerios?"

12601260 views33 comments33 favs

Why, these were the young hands that I kissed only last night.

eggs

11821182 views33 comments11 fav

i ask you what i taste like and you say "not much."

A D O N I S

16971697 views33 comments00 favs

They sprinkled me in the holes of Auburn Maine. They covered me in grain, and salmon colored sand. My shell had swirls of chartreuse, and chocolate painted on it. I was made from glass and Gods left eye. Picked and sorted through, we all landed into a tiny paper bag…

What have you been doing with your life?

21822182 views33 comments22 favs

Homegirl wanted someone to love her so much they could suicide together.

Born Lucky

12021202 views33 comments11 fav

He's gonna find he wasn't born lucky after all, his propaganda has got up on the wrong side of the bed and sidled onto the couch.

Paint-Can Harry Lets in Some Much Needed Air

13851385 views33 comments33 favs

Welcome the one and the all of you, welcome all you scraggly long haired weeds, welcome the no longer rolling stones of the new you, welcome you most beautiful little wonderfully…