Most read stories

Stumptown Mary

18961896 views22 comments11 fav

so one time the Holy Ghost come down to Stumptown

Peach (2)

18961896 views1111 comments66 favs

He has stubby, rough little fingers. Good.

Conversation between Young Men

18961896 views11 comment00 favs

It was stubborn early winter, when everyone was cold but went outside anyways, rubbing red fingers and shuffling feet.

Casting It

18961896 views1010 comments55 favs

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

A Girl / An Elderly Woman / A Bear

18961896 views88 comments44 favs

A girl waiting at the door, heart in a Ziploc. An elderly woman stopping at the bank. A bear in a screaming contest with a troop of girl scouts.

Dick Be Gone

18961896 views33 comments22 favs

One thing about being a musician—more specifically a drummer—struggling against the cost of living—more specifically the cost of living in the Bay Area—is that I will do just about anything to earn money.

Golgotha

18961896 views22 comments00 favs

They were starting to get winded. The boy, his father and his little brother were hiking up a hill, cutting a diagonal path through hay-colored grass towards an outcrop of craggy boulders below the hill's summit.

A Journey of Seven Thousand Miles

18961896 views1111 comments99 favs

The taste of / what is denied us is always sweet

Razor Wire

18961896 views66 comments22 favs

I flip up my hoodie, pull the string tight across my lips until it cuts into them, pull tighter, saw back and forth until blood warms the hairs on my chin.

The Sky-What Limit?

18961896 views00 comments00 favs

Lighter-than-air flight was back. The skies of the coast were alight with colorful balloons, dirigibles, and zeppelins tethered to their docking towers along the beach, the huge aircraft bobbing in the breeze up and down the coast for miles,…

The Quiet Room by Doug Holder

18951895 views11 comment11 fav

I keep my life very ordered. Order for me is security. I am sure of some things. Like the fact I work five nights a week, and sleep during the day.

The Queue

18951895 views22 comments11 fav

She persisted. “How long have we been here?” A note of anger crept into his voice. “How long? How long? Why …, why ….” He swallowed hard, realized he had forgotten.

Assay the Assail

18951895 views22 comments22 favs

No one is a Puritan under all that powder!

Chicagoo (from Swink literary journal)

18951895 views11 comment11 fav

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?

Laughing, Crying

18951895 views55 comments44 favs

It was Brad, for short; or so he would say. But really his name was Bradford, and he was a writer. He had almost always lived in New York. He was only half-white. His mother had run away with a black man in the sixties. Her father had told her to never come back to…

Flowers for Our Dead Lovers

18951895 views11 comment11 fav

We brought flowers for our dead lovers

The Big Game

18951895 views33 comments55 favs

The vampire donated floodlights so the children could play ballgames at night. The lights came on but the dugouts remained vacant. The vampire sat alone in the bleachers. “Sometimes I am less than the sum of my parts,” he said to the sum of his parts.

Quiet

18941894 views1414 comments1212 favs

He says, You think too much and he grins a grin that has all of the attic keys on a wrought iron ring, on a chain.

Visiting Sally

18941894 views1818 comments1717 favs

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

If Wishes Were Horses Beggars Would Ride

18941894 views44 comments22 favs

Two people are talking. They are both wearing hats.

Game Night

18941894 views33 comments11 fav

We’re all competitive and drunk.

Curb Appeal

18941894 views33 comments22 favs

He kept the lawn mowed at the perfect height. He mowed it twice a week to one inch. Some weeks he mowed it a third time for good measure.

Folded Up

18931893 views1010 comments88 favs

Time to pull in the shining teeth, but it makes me so sad, you know I'd rather be holding hands. The others have told me, don't hold back, hit them with every white knuckle, and let them bleed out, I'd rather be kissing your face. It hurts,…

All I Know About Grandfather

18931893 views66 comments44 favs

There were days in my youth when, through no fault of their own, my parents could not drive me the seven mile trip to my elementary school. When I got older they bought me a bike and that proved duly adequate as conveyance. But when I was six years in age

When the Witness Calls

18931893 views1515 comments1111 favs

Here they come, those witnesses.

A Thousand Books

18931893 views1212 comments1212 favs

I gave away 1000 books.

The Tombwatcher's Tale

18931893 views22 comments11 fav

My name is Lu-chen Wyatt, and I have watched this tomb for seven years with undying loyalty. Tomorrow I am going away, and I wish to set down the story of my leaving and to say goodbye to Set-Yi, whose burial place has been my home for so long.

True Vocation

18931893 views11 comment11 fav

After lunch it's vocal coaching: shrieking, screaming, crying Oh-my-God!-Oh-my-God!-Oh-my-God!, panting and face fanning. Next it's ‘situational training', where we pretend to be audience members on real talk shows and practice everything we've learned th

Ashes

18931893 views77 comments66 favs

Now, the Midwest was ashes. The oceans were covered with hydroponics plant growth.

Comes a Little Dog

18931893 views1010 comments22 favs

Time Holds Ultimately Nothing Dear Except Reunion