Most read stories

Three Lost Cantos From Dante's Inferno

20192019 views66 comments22 favs

We came to the furthest reach of hell- A place that email users know well. The woman or man whose unmitigated gall Causes him or her to hit "Reply all".

THE MOON, THE SUN, AND RYAN W. BRADLEY (not quite a fortune-telling)

20182018 views33 comments11 fav

“That’s just Ryan W. Bradley—son of a bitch knows better by now.”

Forgive Me Mamma

20182018 views00 comments00 favs

His footing unsure and his clothes covered in vomit, he grabs the railing and stumbles up the three steps. He pulls off his shirt, finds a cleaner area on the puke-covered garment, wipes sweat off his forehead, dripping wet from the humid, stormy night, a

Note from the wilderness

20182018 views2727 comments77 favs

It's a business, after all, all are quick to remind us. True dat, and the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west, and death and taxes...yup yup, we know. We get it.

Damn Headache

20182018 views1414 comments55 favs

Less than 5 seconds...

Doorface

20182018 views88 comments88 favs

Doorface has a door for a face. Thus his name. He was born with it. The door in his face, not his name. No one is born with a name. The naming comes later.Doorface finds his unusual physiognomy mildly inconvenient. People keep trying to enter his head. No one likes it when…

The Club

20182018 views00 comments00 favs

Even the stinging warmth of the Grey Goose wasn’t fun without Lisa whispering into his ear, telling him stupid little confessions that he would recite to her in singsong the day after. And she would beat her small fists against his chest solemnly with a

some precursors of Mantegna

20182018 views66 comments44 favs

Light. And shade. Line and shape. Colour, form and perspective. Wall, wood, ceiling or canvas. Pigment in eggyolk or linseed oil. Stroked by brush or spread by knife. On small panels or plastered on vast spaces. All these problems to be worked over and solved. Then …

En Pointe

20182018 views22 comments00 favs

Her gaunt arms softly rose, sweeping in front of her with movements that were hesitant at first but, as the music that only she could hear took her in its grip, became graceful and assured.

Alias

20182018 views66 comments33 favs

I can tell you all about rock bottom.

Obituary

20182018 views99 comments22 favs

I won't fail at this like trying to fix a leaking sink without mud grease or washers tinier than Cheerios.

When He Left it all to Me

20182018 views3636 comments2020 favs

Where did you go?

Hummingbird hearts in a breadbox

20182018 views99 comments66 favs

We married in the ruins of a pachinko hall, the tiny bones in the pocket of your tracksuit luring a pack of wild dogs out from the underpass.

Trapeze Artist

20172017 views1515 comments1313 favs

Solitude is such an excellent alternative to suicide.

Boredom & Ennui

20172017 views00 comments00 favs

I had a weird feeling I had just validated his behavior — provided another tile in the mosaic of his ego and self-esteem — by doing nothing more than entering this hall of mirrors, and reflecting.

A Little Piece of Humanity

20172017 views33 comments22 favs

It wasn't meant to happen like this— the shutter, the feeling of breathlessness when he touched her shoulder, even after he had pointed out all of the things she had done incorrectly throughout the day. They had been married for five years in February, and as…

The Beach

20172017 views66 comments33 favs

I often thought about touching those slippery flames between my thumb and index finger.

The Gospel According to Teeny

20172017 views1414 comments1212 favs

Then I heard it -- a sound like an oboe being strangled. Teeny was farting onto the cement stoop through her jeans, a tripple flutter blast.

The Jewish Goodbye

20172017 views00 comments00 favs

"And secondly, it’s never bing bing bing with you. It’s like, bing bang bongity bumbity bum yadda yadda bla bla bla.” Sam stopped short and glanced down at his shoes. He knew he’d gone too far.

Semi Tiresias

20172017 views1212 comments1111 favs

I knew my mother would die by the weekend

Mercury Unbound - 4

20172017 views2020 comments88 favs

The music, Antonín Dvořák's 'New World Symphony,' the second movement, 'Largo,' immediately alters my mood.

The Stone Garden

20172017 views1010 comments55 favs

A story for Halloween.

Lines with Billie Holiday

20172017 views1212 comments1111 favs

It is almost as if there isn’t a wedge of wood between us – I can feel him inches away from me. I can’t control the sigh or the tears that escape my body.

love letter

20172017 views1818 comments44 favs

At night, I fold your name in origami doves and blow, hard, and you are disassembled come morning.

Ant Farm

20162016 views77 comments55 favs

Every time I squished an ant with my finger, I felt a piece of me loosen and chisel off.

Inventing Games

20162016 views00 comments00 favs

As children we invent games and we're really creative. We concoct ridiculous rules and enjoy making adaptations to them. And everything makes sense. Then you grow up, lose creativity. You don't invent games anymore. Recess is replaced with a second…

Bunny Ears

20162016 views00 comments11 fav

Word traveled fast at school on Monday. Emma Jakowski had actually captured him. He was being held in her dad's tool shed. Anyone who wanted to see him had to be in the Jakowski's backyard by 3:15 that afternoon, chocolate bunny ears in hand. It was no…

halloween haiku

20162016 views88 comments77 favs

a dry bony voice/from a desiccated soul/coughs up its own throat.

The Killer

20162016 views88 comments44 favs

It don't knock you down to the goddamned ground and push your face into the mat and dare you to get back up. Just so it can knock you down again. They don't have real dreams. Dreams that make them wake up in the middle of the night. Hurting. Wanting.

Melancholy Happiness

20162016 views99 comments44 favs

It's only 4 lines.