Most discussed stories

THE SHIFT

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"leaves &damage, &shifts of shape"

The Time Broker

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When I finally met the time broker, he sat at an antiquated mahogany desk with no computer. He looked up and waited for me to speak. "Time for sale," his ad had advertised, and I was ready to pay

Surprise

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a shy girl

Pink

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Together / they peeled and fed each other pink fruit, / ordered expensive pink beef, went on / vacations and viewed pink sunsets / on paradise beaches.

The Eyes of the Inmate

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The courts had scheduled the date long ago but the time, an hour always left to the warden, had yet to be decided.

Written Six Weeks Before

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March 16, 2006 My mail, e-mail, and phone calls go from the ridiculous to the sublime. Apologies for the cliché, but I can't resist its perfect applicability: In my mailbox today yet another catalogue of boob jobs in bikinis and an invitation to explore…

Modest Proposal

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It could be fun,/ with the guns, explosives, Molotov/ Cocktails and all,

Hawk

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Squirrels and mice fear her shadow

Waiting for the Voice on the Line

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hoping for a happy outcome/ like a kindly voice on the line

October

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For a few/ vivid weeks, deciduous shrubs and trees/ will seem to glow like flames and embers

Outside Starbuck’s on the Way to Work

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I always step around his mess...

Live Sacrifice

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I don’t name the dog but the fish requires a name. Animals that do not get eaten must be named. The dog is still on the menu.

The Girl in the Storm

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There once was a girl who was lost in a storm. She wandered this way and that, this way and that, trying to find a way home. But the sky was too dark, and the rain too fierce; all the girl did was go in circles. Then, suddenly, there were arms around her

10 Easy Steps to a Better Intellectual Life

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Let’s face it, there are simply too many things too know these days.

FLY AWAY

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Why is the sky grey he asked meI don't know, I saysudden flashes of light snowbloat the cloudssea gulls are squawkingexpect them to peck at my headI have nothing to feed them

Rosaleen In Mourning

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She hardly twitches. Her face regards the stars. If her body is an object, it is the isthmus before global warming. They want to find the source of the glacier in her eyes that is always melting. Maybe they like a woman who cries.

HOMESTEADING

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She had loved sleeping in Todd’s arms at night, hearing the soft tinkle of crystal above her when cool drafts moved through the house, his hand wandering over the swell of her belly.

Fuck Ups

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we try, we keep trying

Trompe l'oeil

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After her grief had subsided, the wife felt immediate relief. / Suddenly she was free to abandon or pursue loneliness

I've Got a Secret

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There's a man sitting in my room holding a jar of my ashes. That's what he claims.

Junkyard Angel Baby Nomad

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"We gotta get out of here", you said

BLT

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I had a sister-in-law who was a licensed nutritionist. Not sure what “licensed” means, but she had some certificate and worked in a hospital. Hospitals! Places not known for their cuisine, much less their nutrition. —So, what do you…

I Saw the News Today, Oh Boy

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We are infused with fear and dread/ of the world we won’t engage/ except through flat screens and remotes,

tea

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what a mess

Three Poems, One for Each Eye

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1. a bone to pick"It seems to be accepted nowadays more than ever that killing,individual and mass killing,is the order of the day;it is accepted."--Henry MillerWhy can't you leave well enough alone just long enough for it to make its own miraculous escape…

Oddities

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One day my wife got so mad at me she raked her fingernails down my face.

Some Assembly but No Singularity Required

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The phone rings. The oven beeps./ The locomotive whistles and howls.

Twine

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I thought of driving over there across town, steering with buttered hands.

The Naked Man of Barcelona

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It is no easy thing getting noticed on Las Ramblas.

Her Hair, a Braid

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She’s there, in a tin, loosely wound beneath sepia tissue paper, a braid to worry in your fingers.