Most read stories

Elegy For the Old Republic

20122012 views33 comments22 favs

You call the shit in this paper news? ‘Dog Accidentally Shoots Man With His Own Gun, Swedish Man Bursts Into Flames on Train Platform, The Truth About Elvis's Hidden Extraterrestrial Daughter.' Seriously? Enough about Elvis already.

Root in a Bottle

20122012 views22 comments11 fav

He had expected more -- at least his grandfather's classic Packard touring car.

A MAMMOTH UNDERTAKING

20122012 views11 comment11 fav

My best friend and roommate Eliza woke up one morning with the sudden conviction that she had to become very fat, as soon as possible.

Godot Finally Shows!

20112011 views55 comments22 favs

Vladimir and Estragon stood hunched at the corner of Ellis and Taylor in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. Bedraggled and spent, they looked dully around them at pretty much nothing. They could have been thirty, or maybe…

Greetings from 17-E

20112011 views00 comments00 favs

Remember the glass changing room just off the pool terrace? It's been replaced by a juice bar. Seems fitting, really.

Love Story, a Sequel

20112011 views2121 comments1111 favs

He hid in parks and abandoned apartment houses until his wounds healed. He ate nuts, berries, and seeds. A shy, gentle soul, he watched children playing on the monkey bars, and thought of his lost youth.

Gone With The Wildebeest

20102010 views22 comments11 fav

A recent book reveals that nature documentaries are staged. Shocked by such claims we went on location to discover for ourselves the behind-the-scenes manipulations and more. Director: “You'll spot the wildebeest, freeze, and then charge. Okay? And try to bring…

Jack's

20102010 views1818 comments1515 favs

We're not here for idle chit-chat, or ESPN, or fish tacos.

On The Sly

20102010 views44 comments44 favs

She was a sucker punch.

How to Forget

20102010 views44 comments11 fav

Refuse to go to the church service, even though you already missed the funeral. Tell his mother something came up. Call his phone over and over, just to hear his voice, until his mother asks you to stop. Make a recording of his voicemail. Delete it an

13 Halloweens

20102010 views22 comments22 favs

1. The Walking Heart Attack Man has two outfits. In the summer he dresses in a short sleeve checkered button down shirt and high waisted Bermuda shorts with sandals. In the winter he wears dark pants and loafers with a gray corduroy coat…

The Art of Madness

20092009 views77 comments33 favs

He had an addiction to elevating himself to higher levels of potential: some would call this ambition.

Uterus

20092009 views1919 comments1111 favs

I describe mine as uterine-based hysteria or Sex Test.

Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.2 - c.4

20092009 views00 comments00 favs

Madam Mayweather heard the laughter stop and the copy of Jean-Pierre burst into smoke. Her silence was intense. Nobody in the auditorium knew what to expect. No one dared to say a single word.

The Caveman Attends the Symphony Without His Club

20082008 views88 comments33 favs

“Would you consider renewing for the next season?” “We’re not interested.” “Can I ask you why?” I considered my reply. I was thinking of mincing my words. The man on the other end of the line seemed, how should I put this, somewhat s

Light Shot Water

20082008 views99 comments44 favs

Where I grew up, you did not venture casually into ocean waters.

Mystery by the Bay

20082008 views00 comments00 favs

The water was like glass except for a ripple here and there where Spearing were jumping. Joe didn’t know whether they were playing or avoiding being lunch for larger fish. He set up shop above the point where, light years ago, his father, a fisherman, had

What She Gave to the Sea

20082008 views1010 comments55 favs

1.There's a young woman in a nightclub seated next to a window out of which she watches the slow descent of snow, illuminated by strategic lights. She imagines herself falling with those flakes. Her friend has left her for the dance floor. The young woman is…

mary jane - snow white super girl

20082008 views00 comments11 fav

holland's hope and hawaii skunk god's one true gift to mankind

Toward a Critique of Everything Existing

20082008 views2121 comments55 favs

You got a lot of people, out there

Confiding in the Airsick Bag

20072007 views33 comments22 favs

In row nine, there was a lady on the window seat. Seeing the potential of space between us, I asked, “Mind if I take this one?” “Not at all” she said as if she hadn't a friend in the world, apart from the poor bastard now sitting in seat 9D.

The Night

20072007 views77 comments44 favs

her parents were gone they sat on the love seat side by side saying nothing the longest time

Like An Endless Rain

20072007 views22 comments11 fav

Fate could have sent me any number of Sergeant-Detectives, but fate sent me one of Boston’s finest, Sergeant-Detective Sheila Magnuson. Aside from being a little undernourished Sheila Magnuson is possibly the world’s most beautiful Sergeant-Detective.

Prompts

20062006 views1616 comments1313 favs

Write a poem in which your father is a dog and you are his leash.

A Country of Husbands

20062006 views1010 comments77 favs

The first husband was young and lovely. He had a little nose and long fingers he used for things like planting begonias in my clay pot. I did not do flowers. So that was nice.

The Last Quiet Morning

20062006 views1313 comments99 favs

Things don’t happen here, life is so boring in this little Irish town.

How I Made My Fortune

20062006 views00 comments00 favs

At the time I first went to work for Mr. Byron my family was in a sorrowful state. My dad, much as I can recall, was one of those roving kinds, called himself a carpenter or contractor, depending on the kind of job he was aspiring to, and was subject to f

What's It To You

20062006 views77 comments33 favs

Oh I'm melting all right, into a foul vapor rising from a dead volcano, not even able to spit fire, but only cold old frozen rock like dribbles of putrid plasma.

Hard To Know You Can't Go Back

20062006 views55 comments11 fav

The light against the nylon walls of the tent gets me feeling a little down. The air's wet inside, but it's warm. The whole world outside is creaking and chirping, everything that wakes up with the dawn's first tepid blue light does so and starts making n

Woman Gives Birth At Cafe, Refuses To Leave Until Latte Finished

20052005 views11 comment00 favs

There was a man crying, walking his dog and a woman drove by on a flat tire They brought coffee to the tables in large glasses on white saucers There’d be long silver spoons with which to stir in strong