Most read stories

For The Sea of Pill

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In his dreams, he swam in piles of pills. Sometimes the piles were infinite, other times the were contained, tonight the pills were intense shiny reds, chalky yellows, deep blues and matte purples and swirled around in a children's inflatable castle. Derek swam happily,…

Big C and Lil Puppet

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At that time I was meeting Jacob at 3:30 each afternoon in Joan of Arc Park so we could walk dogs together. This was our job.

The Poet Reads

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If ever I read a poem aloud It will not be from a podium’s shelter

Visiting Sally

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Buddy was in a garage band. They were pretty good. “Soul Harbor“ they called themselves.

My Worst Nightmare

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Letters from the Asylum (3)

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She stepped into a pair of high heeled slippers and began to dance. She was Salome, a witch, dancing like the most beautiful, the most skilled whores of Paris.

Fuck Ups

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we try, we keep trying

Casting It

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Truth came out of it, a little bug that hovered there...

Flowers for Our Dead Lovers

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We brought flowers for our dead lovers

Animals, Animals, Animals

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  Crea grew up above a pet store and now she dreams of cats. There are too many of them to name, a slinking mess of calico, tabby, tortoise-shell, black and white. There are more each night. They whisper to her, words made of hissing mewls. During the…

Migrant Workers

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Emma pushes through the door of the corner market, aiming briskly for her car, keys in one hand, grocery bag in the other, shoulder bag slung. Best not to make eye contact with the loitering boozers and bikers from the bar next door. Double take. Can't…

just like James Taylor

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tell me about the time you lived in Carolina, and what my smile does for you.

Ah Ha!

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His head was usually full of ah ha!, a luminescence that folded around obstacles like smoke.

A Christmas Tale

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leaning over the banister, her Christmas waist making the wood swoon and creak, a warning sign if there ever was one...

Brian, Lisa And The Robinsons

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Sometimes you're searching for a family and you don't even know it. Sometimes a family finds you.

Game Night

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We’re all competitive and drunk.

Notes from Underground

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The end is rehearsed over and over;/ in a world without heaven all is farewell.

Litter Box

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When I died, she said, she was going to have me cremated and put my ashes in the cats’ litter box.

Chicagoo (from Swink literary journal)

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When Kim handed me some of her husband’s condoms—“Here, use these”—out of one of their bedroom dresser drawers, could she sense the astonishment I was trying my best not to show?

Sparrow and Mockingbird Greet the Dawn

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feathered waves of tangerine peach

Parabola Tango

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Is there a recipe for / lasting happiness?

Quitting

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The dancer was a little chubby, but I didn't mind. It gave her more to shake.

Weary

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At this time of night, the fluorescence makes his eyes bleed. The muscles in his legs are tight; walking's more of a necessity than anything else. Alexander pushes the shopping cart down the endless gray tile floors of the Grand Union on 35.

You, Cliché

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You might as well be the man on the moon. Once touching your face was quotidian. When I tallied each day's pleasures, you, in this room or that, counted too much for me, I think. I stopped record keeping. I'm …

Missing Letter

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It's so far to get to where we aren't inthe way of someone's destructive progress.I'm only walking in my own gardensnow, but the big blue house is like an emptiedout envelope. I guess that makes this themissing letter. I don't know your heart's newaddress, but I once…

The Great San Francisco Poetry Wars, 15

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Steve Bancroft’s future wife showed up at his door that same night, slamming her hand loudly against the door and shouting for him. “Steve, Steve, wake up. Damn it, come on. You forgot to pick me up at the airport. Who are you in there with? I said wa

Smite the hindmost of them, Joshua 10:19

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Marlene smiles at me with her lips pressed together. The young girl standing with her can't be more than fourteen or fifteen although she is tall for her age. She too smiles. She has an intricate set of braces on her teeth. I can't tell if Marlene has teeth

Naming the Beauties

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the signature of God/ consigning everything/ to the saturating energies of time.

MindLight

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{Chapter iv of Undermind} "What do you think of the light in our city at night?" It spreads out in every direction, following the hills and valleys of the city, visible into the far distance from the Penthouse party room on the 44th floor. "Gorgeous!…

Cats

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My wife and I are cat people. Indeed, that's how we met. We met at a wake.