Most read stories

Keep the Change

18381838 views22 comments22 favs

Jacob could tell it was a man he had just walked past, a broken man with an olive green Vietnam era military jacket, a man who had probably served his country as honorably as anyone chosen at lottery and forced to kill for a subsistence wage…

Wingless messenger

18381838 views1414 comments77 favs

a bird who gives messages

Right Now

18381838 views33 comments22 favs

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

The Escapists

18381838 views1414 comments1212 favs

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

2 and 2

18371837 views1414 comments66 favs

I was a six year old with no bike. Only the males in my familyhad that privilege. So one morning I got up very early, before the older siblings awoke, crept out the back porch door where Iknew there would be two bikes in the yard just waiting for me and my…

Hygiene

18371837 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.

Not Lao-tzu's Yellow Brick Road, xxviii - xxxvii

18371837 views99 comments77 favs

master carvers do not reduce with carving.

A Body Divided, 6

18371837 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

Heroic

18371837 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.

Anhedonia (excerpt 2)

18371837 views22 comments00 favs

Crazy. I really hate when people use that word.

Dog Days

18371837 views1515 comments1515 favs

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

Our 2015 Holiday Letter…Sort Of

18371837 views99 comments44 favs

“Why do I have to sign these cards? You haven't written your dreaded holiday letter yet.” “I told you not to complain or you'd be the one writing it. And addressing the envelopes. Then you can stamp them and take them to the Post Office!” …

evening cigarette

18371837 views88 comments55 favs

It's short.

City Girls Never Need Car Keys

18371837 views22 comments33 favs

But they all know the parking prayer...

The Eleventh Commandment

18371837 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.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 1

18371837 views44 comments11 fav

The DC-9 bounced in the turbulence over the north Pacific waking the dozing Ben Clarone.

GRANDMA FLYNN

18361836 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. …

My Name is Philippe

18361836 views00 comments00 favs

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

The Hiders

18361836 views22 comments11 fav

The Kharal kept us safe, we knew, kept the colony functional in the oft belabored effort that was living our small, human lives surrounded by death, for in their ring of constant invisible protection, when they did not come, we thrived. It was not as tho

The Color of Faith

18361836 views11 comment00 favs

My best friend Khaled’s idea was, he’d set up a pool tournament. Nine-ball. Each church would send a player, and whichever church won, he’d join. Any church that wouldn’t shoot pool, he wouldn’t want to join.

A man with bleeding hands

18361836 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

Love, a comet, omens and wings

18361836 views33 comments33 favs

My love for him like wax wings/ so long they stretched eternal— beating in the sky, grazing peaks,

Truth Or Consequence - 4

18361836 views66 comments44 favs

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

Parrot

18361836 views1717 comments88 favs

"Your mother does sailors," the parrot screeched.

Listen To Our Birds

18361836 views99 comments88 favs

We know a poem isn't going to stop you From invading our town. It won't get you to Listen to our birds any more than to our Sunsets. That's not why we do it. We know A poem isn't going to break the blade of Your knife like an…

25 Cents at a Time

18361836 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.

I Remember Kitty D.

18361836 views2020 comments1111 favs

When the car arrived, Kitty bounded out, lipstick-stained cigarette dangling, silver hair tightly teased. We could not escape her hug, smelling of peppermint and Aqua-Net and Jean Nate.

Albatross Antics

18351835 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…

Forever Four-Eyed

18351835 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…

Librarians! What Are We Hiding?

18351835 views1111 comments99 favs

Librarians are hiding something. What is it?