Most read stories

A Gardener in February Thinks About June

18281828 views77 comments77 favs

I want to be that daring gardener who ploughs up her front yard -- to the horror of the Neighborhood Association.

Invasive Species

18281828 views44 comments00 favs

Except, something about Margaret was a little off. She would stop typing suddenly and look up at the plant, studying it, almost as if daring it to cross her. Then, she would go back to her computer and start pounding away again.

at night, she comes

18281828 views44 comments44 favs

My head was swimming with nicotine, the coldness of the first snow, and unfinished love thoughts.

Burning

18281828 views44 comments33 favs

When she told me to write itI did; I scratched out what I wanted to sayin quick print letters. Not all of it.I could never get it all out in an hour but thegeneral idea was definitely there. We had to finish it in the rain becausewe couldn't light the…

Lewd in the Library!

18281828 views55 comments33 favs

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue just came out, and all over America librarians are flipping through its pages and rolling their eyes. The swimsuit issue, which isn't actually about swimwear at all, but, is, instead, about young, beautifully shaped female…

At Night in the Field

18281828 views1010 comments66 favs

“Ol’ Betty has a nice set of headlights,” he says with a wink as he springs out of the recliner.

Burma

18281828 views55 comments33 favs

Our mothers died in childbirth. Taken in by the village, our new mothers taught us to wave at the river boats, to sell our trinkets to tourists. They offered us coins of a foreign currency and little pathetic smiles. By nightfall, our fingers bled. Then came…

Toothbrush

18271827 views1111 comments22 favs

...and he would stumble from bed in a panic and fling the toothbrush at the mirror cursing all the while "fuck fuck why can't I forget her".

The Karaoke Girls

18271827 views33 comments33 favs

The Karaoke Girls are not appreciated. Not nearly enough and not often enough.

Trophy

18271827 views22 comments11 fav

I remember ...all the teenagers offered no-longer favored CDs, last year's cell phones, third-place trophies, team jerseys, played-out videogame cartridges, and candy-colored miniature stuffed animals...

Liquids

18271827 views66 comments55 favs

The bar sounds grew (as bar sounds will) until everything rushed together -- clinking glass, tinkling ice, laughter and zippers going down then up.

Hawk

18271827 views1818 comments1414 favs

Squirrels and mice fear her shadow

Yellow Pages

18271827 views1010 comments1010 favs

Yellow Pages season is on us now, and Jimmy's drivin' a contract route. He'll head out to the San Joaquin where they print, and load ‘em in the back of his Tundra with the high side walls until the whole damned rig sags low,

like a child

18271827 views1414 comments77 favs

where is the magic at? the spit the dirt or the words?

Language

18271827 views1515 comments88 favs

this reaching, this striving to love like it's there becoming something we need.

The Man Who Couldn't Move

18271827 views88 comments55 favs

Without warning his eyes expertly navigated into a closed position setting off the dream machine long without power until this very second.

Fascination

18271827 views1717 comments88 favs

Lying all over itself...

Decomposition

18271827 views1010 comments77 favs

She can never say why, but guilt rides her bones like the spirit. She rubs worry raw.

Sports day at the School for Clowns

18271827 views1313 comments55 favs

The javelin was cancelled after the unfortunate incident with Mrs Parker last year, but no one could have predicted this year’s sack race tragedy.

Plant Me

18261826 views1212 comments99 favs

If you find the place they forgot to bomb send me a hot pink postcard. The planet is only so big. We're already dipping our heels into the waters without wanting to become true believers, miserable followers. The bedtime stories will have to…

Two Cinquains

18261826 views88 comments44 favs

SPOT ON OUR LUNG We sense A stillborn dawn. A furtive, lurking gray, A sleight of dusk, eclipse, that follows Us. TITANIC'S LANTERNS Upon My rain-glazed panes Wet lights from neighbors glow Like lantern beams from shipwrecks…

Snake Walk

18261826 views1717 comments66 favs

The Viper turns so quickly that Father's grabbing hand now faces its head instead of its tail.

Getting Sideways On Douglas

18261826 views00 comments00 favs

Under the dirty orange glow of sodium streetlights, the glistening pavement looks slick, but it’s only just wet. The mid-November temperature is cool—quite mild, actually, for this late time of year—still hovering in the upper 30s—so far posing only the

Turkey Hunt

18261826 views44 comments22 favs

While I was still new at Black & Twigg, shortly before Thanksgiving, Percy brought me a handwritten memo to type, the subject “Turkey Hunt,” addressed to all Black & Twigg employees in the San Francisco office from management. It said that the firm…

Piggy Bank

18261826 views11 comment11 fav

He shivered in his robe and pajama pants as the showdown with the piggy bank continued on this dark winter’s night. He couldn’t resist the cute dots for eyes, the stubby legs and perked up ears.

Potsdamer Strasse #2

18261826 views33 comments22 favs

Beautiful kids in sunglasses dashed around as colourful as jars of mixed fruit in the warm air of a midsummer’s night drinking on the riverbank, the bar sheltered under a crusty wooden shack, the sight was stunning in the twilight before the sun rose.

Octopus

18261826 views44 comments11 fav

My ride, my good friend Morning was due any minute, but of course, he/she was always late. My costume was a dog. I was stuck to another dog, in the act of passion. A stuffed one. A basset hound. I said my name was Lightning.

Wandering Eye

18261826 views1212 comments77 favs

“If they look that good in shorts.” I warned him once, in a candid, humorous moment, “Then they’re probably too young for you to look at.”

Corporate Zombie Voodoo The rantings of a middle aged male against the corporate culture of America

18261826 views11 comment11 fav

This seems to be what happens to the Corporate Zombie Cowboys. They get eaten by their own Zombie Kings. The hardest part is I can see them coming, I am on the menu, and I cannot avoid them.

Down to Earth

18251825 views1616 comments44 favs

He ran his forefinger round the rim of the lid then sucked at his fingertip. The texture's like chalk, he thought, it tastes of earth. He hadn't anticipated this — but dipped his finger in again and swallowed. It was like scraping his tongue against a blackboard on…