1664 5 4
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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
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1664167
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Under nervously flickering fluorescent lights / your name will grow / fed by the tongues of Those Who Never Leave
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166440
|
When we were on the road coming back out to California, along the Lewis and Clark trail somewhere near Cardwell, Montana, I remember thinking life was like leaping through flames while reading poetry and drinking rotgut red wine. This was what life was, a
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166411
|
Seventeen-year cicadas are the sometimes-singers that surprise spring with the ugliest mouths of all.
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166453
|
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…
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166397
|
Dark, green grass covered the pasture like millions of tiny fingers swaying in the heat.
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166341
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She heard mortar fire, whose percussive power rose above the tapping typewriter keys. A perspiration of terror broke on Loretta’s brow, under her arms. Then suddenly, the whistling of shells.
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166364
|
To hear my name, called out across the Roman stones on a bridge in Regensburg through the languid March drizzle,
was to breathe again as my head burst through the water.
|
166365
|
The bar sounds grew (as bar sounds will) until everything rushed together -- clinking glass, tinkling ice, laughter and zippers going down then up.
|
166330
|
She burst
Into the glass shop
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1663188
|
I told him he was just paying for his sins. He gave me a look. "Why me?" he asked.
|
16632313
|
I am abandoned to the mundane/
calculations of a small mind/
trapped by small considerations
|
166334
|
My people rested naked sandwiches on the arms of chairs, and always had an open saucer with half melted butter, a block of Velveeta cheese in the freezer, an open rice cooker.
|
1663115
|
This weekend was supposed to be about intellect and soul-mating, but, like all others, it's turned into body and longing. You sit in my passenger seat and I let you smoke in my wee car with the windows rolled down. We've come from a wedding, a fairy ring, a…
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166300
|
With her head thrown back and mouth open she howls into the dark green night, letting her gloved hands droop like the front paws of a dog. A large orange corsage attached to the bosom of her gown.
Around her thick neck, a ribbon of black velvet. Her p
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166200
|
A Body Divided: Memoir
1
When I came back home, after coming down with polio, everything had changed for me. I'd been gone for forty-five long days and nights. But it was Halloween, a time very nearly sacred for children in the Midwest, and it broug
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166210
|
Creamcheese straightened out that spectacular yellow dress, tucking a fully exposed nipple back in under the material. She pulled down the hem of the dress, then strolled right into the Savoy like a wooden duck being pulled on a string, and headed straigh
|
166273
|
Susie watched the record, her mouth agape just slightly, the spinning vinyl unveiling the powerful sound of a voice she'd wanted to hear her whole life.
|
1662106
|
are you like the rest of us and you disagree with war yes i said i disagree with war and he said only one man agrees with war but he won t go to the war
|
1662117
|
War came home tonight. We weep and hug, while he stares over our shoulders, like the statue we'll make of him. We pour a drink for his shaky hands, wheel him past his friends the dead, and lie to each other about other, far off places as if we knew.
|
166223
|
When it was time to leave, she lingered beside you,
bidding you to come again.
I flicked my cat, dog tail, indifferent.
She wanted to lick your cheek.
|
166232
|
A true Rowdies fan begins every conversation about the band with a legend. She would be impressed if he knew the story.
|
16621310
|
I see my siblings once a year when we all show up, as if required by law, to eat Thanksgiving dinner. It is apparent with every bite how much they hate each other.
|
166211
|
Normally I would have never drank such a wine, but it was late on a Friday evening and the bottle was on the house...
|
166256
|
In Your Absence the yard-cat, Flower, has started sleeping on top of the fridge
|
166111
|
"We regret the inconvenience. Due to hijack activity, we have orders to secure this flight. Please remain seated. We will be landing shortly. Thank you for your cooperation."
|
166174
|
"Merry Christmas, Willie."
|
166132
|
The man who plays his flute every day under the archway near Powell station is not very good. He never plays a real tune, just a series of random notes. There is no rhythm or melody either. In fact, it's not even a flute he…
|
166133
|
The Karaoke Girls are not appreciated. Not nearly enough and not often enough.
|
166141
|
She'd always been an odd girl, nearly raising herself. As she got breasts and hips the boys complained that she was easy to get in the backseat, but afterward the car wouldn't run, not ever, like the engine died the moment they used her willingness up. So
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