Most read stories

Hygiene

18421842 views1212 comments1111 favs

I peed on Rick’s toothbrush. I nearly repented and cleansed it with hydrogen peroxide in the middle of the night. But I didn’t.

A Body Divided, 6

18421842 views00 comments00 favs

When I finally went back to school in the fourth grade, after coming down with polio, my classmates were very welcoming, though I couldn't go outside and run around like them yet at recess or lunch time. That would come, just not right away. But it was th

Dangling About

18421842 views77 comments33 favs

Looking at his pale and pimpled flesh, he was repulsed by his flaccid and lifeless member. The accompanying bits, dangled about far from his frame as the summer heat drew them away from his sweaty and unwashed body.

Dog Days

18421842 views1515 comments1515 favs

I dreamt I was spinning down the coast in a convertible. It was warm, and the top was down.

A man with bleeding hands

18421842 views55 comments44 favs

A man with bleeding hands at the back door of Out of the Closet this morning asked me for the bride and groom figurines at the top of my donation box

On West 4th Street

18411841 views1010 comments44 favs

Across from the Hell Hole the Cage on Sixth pulses, sweats, swooshes, hot concussion as players play for keeps.

Mescaline Blues

18411841 views11 comment00 favs

This is about a mescaline trip that went wrong. It happened back in the '60s and I know, the '60s have been done quite to death and nobody ever gets the trip right but--you'll like this one. Joey and…

My Name is Philippe

18411841 views00 comments00 favs

I ought to see, in Mr. Smith's dilated pupils, the projection of his last reverie.

Forever Four-Eyed

18411841 views77 comments66 favs

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 Martians Are Coming

18411841 views11 comment00 favs

"I read a cute animal story yesterday," I tell them. "And I was filled with rage. I can't live like this. There must be no more bears, or hamster-bears, or manatees, being hopeless and depressed. There must be no more cute animal stories—ever."

Four Prospects from a Spanish Garden

18411841 views22 comments11 fav

(For Dancer and Guitar) …

Anhedonia (excerpt 2)

18411841 views22 comments00 favs

Crazy. I really hate when people use that word.

The Insured

18411841 views11 comment11 fav

Before the bills, before the fighting, before the need to blame something, there was a moment blown empty in the span of one doctor’s breath, a moment where bar nights and weekend benders had no meaning, a moment where the future was as blank as the bac

Right Now

18411841 views33 comments22 favs

I want to talk like Rose Tyler, and be whisked away by the strapping Docor, preferably in David Tennant form.

Shana (Refuse)

18411841 views22 comments11 fav

Papa said he'd be in the stands watching: section H, 5th row, seat 35. During warmups, she had looked, during stretches, she had looked, but she had stopped looking right before the race."Don't worry about me," he had said. "Focus on the race," so when the man had said on…

Virginity

18411841 views1212 comments44 favs

It rises rigid and plumb from its heavy base, the severity of line yielding to grace only at the throat where it crests into a subtly constrictive pinch.

The Eleventh Commandment

18411841 views1414 comments99 favs

I never thought I’d miss the sound of church bells, reminding me of my sudden apostasy, faintly ringing over the rumpus where even the birds can’t get a word in edgeways.

Albatross Antics

18401840 views00 comments00 favs

Track One Johnny Burkemeister, lead vocals and flutist of the band Albatross Antics, sits on his bed thinking in silence. His elbow rests on his knee, and his palm on his forehead with his fingers running through his dirty-blonde hair. He is staring at a copy of Paste…

GRANDMA FLYNN

18401840 views66 comments33 favs

She shoved a small bottle under her aprons and came towards me, darkening the passageway from “Ancestor” by Thomas Kinsella The night I heard the Banshee she passed away. In my screaming fear dada and mama woke. …

Quail

18401840 views1818 comments1616 favs

I can’t take my eyes off a tall blonde with green eyes. I catch her eye.

Mare

18401840 views00 comments00 favs

She pulls out of love, while you sit upon the rumble seat, a granted is taken for every crack of the whip. She pulls out of fear. She pulls.

If The Fire Is Not In Your Apartment

18401840 views99 comments88 favs

If you get crushed in New York City that's your own problem.

A Clean Tent

18401840 views88 comments66 favs

“No,” he says. A simple lie. “I -” He pushes the sleeping bag off of his legs. Their getaway reset was a mistake.

Wingless messenger

18401840 views1414 comments77 favs

a bird who gives messages

Truth Or Consequence - 4

18401840 views66 comments44 favs

"When we say something is good, beautiful, pious, or brave, what idea or image do we hold in our mind?"

Free Time

18401840 views00 comments00 favs

The desk calendar was brilliant, unused. The problems with it didn't begin until March.

25 Cents at a Time

18401840 views55 comments33 favs

He never bothered converting the tip money he pocketed at the Imperial Street 24 hour car wash as his world was replete with 25 cent transactions, making quarters the perfect coin for his realm.

The Escapists

18401840 views1414 comments1212 favs

I sought to feel something. I hunted my mortality. I craved that rush of life pulsating through my veins.

Three: A Heavenly Mansion

18391839 views33 comments33 favs

She went up first, I followed, a respectful three paces behind. Now, I know what you’re thinking: I was perfectly placed to steal a quick, if innocent, glance, and she would never see. The house is a center hall colonial, and there are no mirrors on the s

Heroic

18391839 views22 comments00 favs

This is an older story that was inspired by research on naming conventions while trying to find record of my own ancestors in the Ukraine. I did not find them. Instead I was inspired to write this.