Most discussed stories

Sad Songs

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She was thrilled when she learned that her best friend was having an affair.

Everything is Fine

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        The first one was dark and angular, coiled-looking inside an expensive suit.  Over her food at a small table in the hotel bar, Francesca had been unable to look at anything else but him.  Out of the suit, unsprung on a king-sized hotel bed, his skin…

Cremains

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I need a different storage solution

BEYOND THE LANE

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She learned the difference between listening and hearing, between looking and seeing.

The Stop

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You were busy, moving, alert inconstant motion; packingbooks, clothes, paintings;deciding yes to this, no to that. I was simply tryingto settle somewhere in the space.We'd known it for years when things were in place. Now, this abrupt interruption of…

The Witch in the Canyon

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There's a witch in Laurel Canyon.She made Wes a promise.Her bungalow smelled like Parliaments. Parliaments, garlic frying in olive oil. Parliaments, garlic frying in olive, and a freshly opened pack of Red Vines. Wes could have curled up into a ball and fallen asleep on her…

Aubade Faucet

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I. he leans his messy head against the walland contemplates his wild mistakeshe discovers a nest of red spidersoutside his rotting basement doorhe watches television in his socksand…

A Story

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Like many little towns, ours has an archive. It is a catalog of everything that happens.

Bookends of a Life: II

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The clacking ventilator reminds me of ice cubes rattling in your highball...

DMV

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When you bring information, it does not arrive.

Charlatan Art

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I bought some charlatan art / and hung it on the wall

What Gorillas 'Talk' About When Gorillas 'Talk' About Love

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Eons later, Bobo evolves into Shakespeare. Bonus feature: wings.

Twenty-two

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The year begins well here with much needed rain and tee-shirt temperatures.

Assiduity Nine

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Don and I return to Rasheed's room on the top floor of the middle house where Uzma sits waiting to speak her piece. I'm feeling blessed listening to their enthusiastic chatter. It's like the world is opening up to me again, allowing me to experience a rush of…

The Silver Lady

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Trapped inside a seashell, almost pickled and eaten for dinner—could my life become any more bizarre?

Christmas Morning

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Dad woke us up and said it was time to go.

Hoss Men

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I stood there skinny-as-a-half in “big hair,” ankle boots, and black eyeliner. P. was in radio, not books. He had a sense of humor. I was researching a different man for a novel.

Good with the big picture

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I always have a serious expression on my face, am usually in a white coat and probably look completely unapproachable but there I am, and pasted in my scrapbook: Local Doctor Saves Another Life.

recipe

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secret recipe

Kimchi Hatchet

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“You’re not Jesus"

I Hear You & Other Stories

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All the attractive women in the building had secrets. He wanted to know their secrets, but they wouldn't say.

November Odds

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The stars align against us. Lines of force/ collaborate to push us off the edge/ into the dark abyss we’ve joked about.

lighthouse

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the urgent, naked glow of opportunity or the dim fluorescent nuisance of an object out of reach

Touching the Ceiling is Touching the Floor, Only from Above

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1. It uncurls in your hand like an autumn leaf but fails to recall your happiness. 2. A triangle is the sum of its angles a priori. 3. Leaning on the lens of psychotropics leaves you with restless legs and akithisia. 4. Body…

The Fall of Buffalo Bill

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It is Cary's favorite time of day. School is finished and he is alone, outside his home; and that is the way Cary likes it. Buffalo Bill is having a grand time today! In one corner of the backyard where the grass is bare, Cary is leading the little plastic Bill to…

If It Isn't One Thing, It's Another

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My friend says there's some kind of bug that bites its mate's head off after they have sex.

The Painter, the Actor, the Piano Player

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1.As fast as that I wake to astonishing desire. I'd met you at my parents' house just the weekend before but for them (them the drained students trying to relax, refill before their afternoon sessions) you are the stranger in the room,…

Fear the Future: 25 Brief Tales in Various Keys of Woe, Fear, and Loathing

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The three were up early to await the deer with rifles, ammunition, and coffee.

Between

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You are a space-walker and a time-traveler...

Tuscaloosa

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a Ferris wheel gently rocks its last riders then dumps them to the ground.