Most discussed stories

The Bird

13261326 views1515 comments1313 favs

We lived on the edge of a tiny Iowa town, and picked corn fields were steps away.

Second Wife

17531753 views1515 comments1010 favs

If things continue to go bad for her she will become second wife in six years.

How Zin Prepares for Early Winter While Saint Bernards Cause Major Traffic Jams along East Houston

997997 views1515 comments77 favs

She sings off-key while her married lover shadow-boxes his one-dimensional and split-off selves.

Hysteria

13871387 views1515 comments1010 favs

On the birthday before he started school, he received a pencil case from his paternal grandparents. The violet, oblong pouch contained a pencil and a pencil sharpener in the same color. He didn't remember what had happened with the pencil or the sharpener, but he had…

Sack of Meat

14251425 views1515 comments33 favs

The Nurse left work at five o’clock, walking down Dekalb Avenue toward Flatbush. He didn’t frequent the bar closest to the hospital, although he guessed other nurses and doctors from Brooklyn Hospital did. But he liked to pretend that he cared about h

Winter

13881388 views1515 comments1414 favs

I first met death in an alley.

The Light After Equinox

11811181 views1515 comments1212 favs

Soon enough, October’s ragged/ lawn will hide its deficiencies// under withered leaves of oak,

Aphrodite in Ruins

19121912 views1515 comments77 favs

He needed an editor for his Yale dissertation, the shifting borders between criminal justice and the internet. But the sex was inevitable. He was six two. I was blonde. I don’t think we liked each other very much, but that wasn’t important.

chet baker

15561556 views1515 comments1010 favs

chet baker shades my eyes rippling through the cool water sometimes we feed the fish

I Don't Blame You

15661566 views1515 comments1212 favs

for going forthe river and being blinded by its millionsof invisible fish, all sparklinglike pink enchanteddreams made of rosequartz and shaped like glassroses, who would? I fell for an illusionaftermy own fashion,but I could alwaysadmit mymistakes and catcha laugh out…

If This Were Baltimore

15231523 views1515 comments88 favs

If This Were Baltimore East A spray of change in the lilies and loose rubber, she pulled close to the wall. She smiled at the trucks, her handful of loot. Hallelujah, he said, converting. West Like 4 miles of cakes, they counted…

At the Number Party

13191319 views1515 comments1212 favs

and dreamed itself infinite.

Wednesday late, Friday early

13231323 views1515 comments1414 favs

I wrote this during a poetry workshop at the Atlantic Center for the Arts with Carolyn Forché. January, 2015. So much more has happened since that stunning week.

MR. WOODCHUCK

11611161 views1515 comments99 favs

fat furry marmots who play hide and seek

HUNGRY

13741374 views1515 comments55 favs

Quiet. You sit quiet as a mouse in the corner. Push a little doll around and hum la-la-la so they forget you’re there while they have the cocktail hour. That’s how you find out they’re killing Grandma.

The Crossing

13711371 views1515 comments1111 favs

There was nothing to do but dream ourselves forward. Nothing to do but not die.

What’s the Dark Matter Doing to Us in the Dark?

822822 views1515 comments1212 favs

Will it// scare us shitless when we can finally/ draw ourselves a likeness of it?

C-ing History

10641064 views1515 comments99 favs

Conjure calamity and calamity comes.

The Ardennes: Two Vignettes

971971 views1515 comments1111 favs

In the Ardennes for the the first time...

Godfrey part 2: Marjory's bag

12451245 views1515 comments55 favs

"when I say bag, what I mean to say is…"

Yeopim Pork Men

563563 views1515 comments55 favs

The trio stuffed their grilling equipment in a battered van and left for Dixieland Speedway at 4:30 am.

"Fancy Me"

12241224 views1515 comments33 favs

He stopped the shower and recounted his life, now Kin-less and plain.

Po-cash

17951795 views1515 comments77 favs

“Black is up, red is down,” I said, knowing he turned to pleasant memories of lawbreaking when he felt discouraged. I asked him to meet me for coffee. He said he hadn’t bought a coffee in a year.

Debtor's Prison

12721272 views1515 comments1212 favs

You should have marked that territory like a conquistador, mounted him like an equestrian, left no what-ifs in your wake.

Visiting You Without Her

11821182 views1515 comments1414 favs

I bear the wrong gin. Your air conditioner runs cold. It is either frigid or off, the gauge broken. You are not too old to overlook these things. You can't be choosy, but you will never beg. Just an occasional choice as you settle into this…

Flesh and Blood

16661666 views1515 comments77 favs

On Monday I cook coq au vin. Fatty yellow skin detached and floating in the sauce.

Artist's Statement: Oracle

11091109 views1515 comments77 favs

Mark Reep is a faded Polaroid oracle taped to the only unbroken window of an abandoned house in Ithaca NY.

Waste

595595 views1515 comments1111 favs

When the compost thaws the past oozes out into the present....

Check Engine

26812681 views1515 comments99 favs

“How’s the Pinto running?” Sean says. It’s been awhile. Maybe Darcy won’t remember him.

Abyss

11471147 views1515 comments1111 favs

When Lois finally found him down there, Johnny was wedged between a large rock and the trunk of an old, long since fallen, cottonwood tree. She said as she got to him, she heard his gurgling breath, fighting fiercely to stay alive. When she saw the deep, gathering, red…