Most read stories

Time

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time. Night after night he's up, restless. What if she knew his plans? If only he'd bypass his miscalculations and slip through

The First poem.

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Then you stopped abrupt.

David and Goliath

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The giant hurled threats and insults. He brandished a knife that was a foot long.

The Little Dog from Outer Space

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I looked at her, shook my head and tried to smile. She smiled back, beaming a radiance that pushed away the chill.

Trust In Wolves

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All wolves, my child, want to be eaten.

A Brooklyn Tale

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"Everything except food and sex."

ROAD LESSONS

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"Do you have to call your brother a loser? He is not a loser and that was just uncalled for"

Moon Over L.A.

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The moon begins to rise over L.A. while the roaches try to crawl up the sides of the mountains surrounding the L.A. Basin. While fires rage in the forests of the night, here comes the moon over the horizon, big and haunted, pock-marked and coo

Laughingly rejected by The New Yorker

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...and we laughed.

Balls

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Evening was drawing nigh and Mosby's horse had tired from the daylong ride.

Forever Four-Eyed

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I'm a librarian. A reader. I identify as a four-eyed person. I've always worn glasses. I got my first pair in the second grade. It was a miracle! The blurry world I'd inhabited all my life suddenly came into focus. I could see the blackboard! I could read street signs! I…

The Days of Man

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They drifted for months, locked between the vast merciless blue and the withering sun. Their faces blistered and their minds bleached and weary. They conspired in the shadows, drew plans in the sawdust, they grew confident and…

BEFORE THE NEBRASKA SEA

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The unfanged obscene had finally caught him in the night.

Dislocutions

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Q: This name in Basque means “owns a new house.” A: What is “Xavier”?

Three Sundays at The Grove

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Now, gazing into Greg’s expectant eyes, the only Chinese word Deepti could summon was kuei. Ghost. Before that summer, her mother flipped through the pages of Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir every day, as if she could glean magic from the touch of her finge

Uncle Moscow

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He asked me to bury him in Vegas. Instead, I had him cremated in Trenton.

In the Red

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The younger woman asked Scott if he loved Jesus.

The Laughing Grave

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Newhouse returned his gaze to his wet palm, which he lifted to his nose with suspicion, sniffed again and again, then struggled to move out from under the growing stream.

Itch

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Clayton had a grin like the hand of a beast that stretched as long as her gravel road...

The Shreds of Flame

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For years I watched behind the glass While merry parties purpled past But now the world’s a Solemn Mass And I can only think.

North from Laguna Beach

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I was Orson Welles skulking in the shadows and you Alida Valli; our time measured like footsteps advancing on Gethsemane.

No More Tears

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When Bill was in the hospital, one month bleeding into the next, his mother visited exactly twice, both times complaining of the things she needed or couldn’t get rid of: mop heads, bleach, dustpans, detergents, grease, turgid water in the basement. And

Maine

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A constellation appears in the shape of Van Gogh’s missing ear.

The Future and Why We are Afraid

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Once, when I had not talked to you in a long time, I woke with your name in my mouth.

Manhattan Love Stories #5: Suicide Birds (sic)

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I look for the boy we met inside the club, the one who claimed he loved playing with matches, setting fire to churches. I spot him smoking a cigarette, standing so cool against the side of the club, like he might be the nephew of some Viking guitarist hun

Miguel's Fence

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Miguel's mom told everyone if you pressed your ear against the knot, Jesus would tell you special secrets.

The Sex Life of Your Mouth

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"What say we adjourn to the bedroom and I give you a little demonstration of sexual acrobatics?”

Prawns

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The white Styrofoam box sits on the prep station. It was delivered a few hours earlier. Half awake, I don a black apron and grab a large cutting board. To keep it from slipping, I put the cutting board on a damp towel laid…

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

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

Faces

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Three months had passed since the grease fire melted Jasmine's face.I sat beside her on the hospital bed and held her clamy hand as she trembled. "No more stir-fry," I joked. The doctor and nurse faked a chuckle. Jasmine might have, but the bandages muffled…