1757 6 4
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the first day of preschool/ my mother walked me down the street/ to a tall building that cut/ like a knife made of bricks/ right into the street,/ an american flag/ sticking straight out/ just above the door.
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1757167
|
The sun is going to slice your goddamn face open.
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175731
|
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175720
|
He slumped forward, drooling into his lap.
|
175742
|
I imagined the crystals in my mouth.
Salt flowers blooming on my tongue.
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175676
|
Scavenge at that address only if you feel possessed of great courage, a profound faith in resurrection or reincarnation, or an impatient desire for a premature date with certain death.
|
175622
|
I remember thinking the seasons are arriving later every year,
as if the world has been slowed by the weight of graves.
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175600
|
Her mouth was sour; her forehead was still damp with perspiration. She leaned against the bathroom wall and noted her complexion had gone pale. She wanted to slide down the wall and rest until she felt steadier, but…
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17562210
|
Let’s play a game. I’m thinking of a word.
Do we have to?
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175620
|
His velvet mouth, shaped perfectly to intertwine with hers, teases the space between them until its caress finds her.
|
175633
|
He was a sushi chef, and he would spend hours in their kitchen practicing his knife skills, and the speed with which he can put that there and this in that and so on; and she would see him on the floor most mornings, still wearing that dirty, tattered ban
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175600
|
I blinked the darkness out of my eyes and saw the man again; I could smell his breath. Just like dad’s. I must have fallen asleep. My eyes felt so heavy. I was cold. Why was I cold?
|
175676
|
She tells me I have to face the fact that I have the heart of the Tin Man. I know the story. He had none. She is very sensitive and I have to measure my remarks because words bruise her so easily. So, I…
|
175654
|
Quail looked up at her. Unsmiling, challenging.
Lemme just go wash my hands, he said.
She closed the door, bolted it. You won’t need your hands.
|
175653
|
Smoking is like hooking up with an ex-girlfriend: you know she's bad for you and that it won't work out, but it feels so familiar and comfortable and so easy to slide back into.
|
17561213
|
The mulch vendor is a crook but we have no choice, not with the shortage of soil. Have to guard the stuff, put alarm wires around the garden, leave a friend in charge to spot the thieves if you go away overnight. If you…
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175511
|
[CAUTION: IF YOU ARE UNDULY "FIXATED" ON GOD, AMERICA, MOM, APPLE PIE, AND/OR BASEBALL ... YOU MAY WANT TO AVERT YOUR EYES!]
|
175521
|
‘Miguel! A pint of Guinness, please!'
I might as well have asked for his mother's immortal soul. A smile as benign as a stiletto. But he served a clean and tidy pint.
|
175596
|
I have always admired flat-chested women.
|
175543
|
He’d tossed and turned all night, pondering what to do, afraid she was living alone. He’d decided to email her two words: “Love you” and signed it “Scary Sal,” as she’d always seemed so afraid of him.
|
175532
|
You are walking through a canyon made of shelving units lined with colorful masterpieces of three-dimensional minimalist design
|
175510
|
Leda looks back over her shoulder at us as the swan
grips her from behind while at the same time nipping at
the nape of her neck. She's a freckled child and
a little frightened. There's a dark smudge beneath her eye
where the shadow runs. The swan
|
175500
|
The museum’s catalog description changed much less than the painting over those years. He wasn’t curator-in-chief of catalog descriptions, however, that task went to a curator arriving by another door.
|
175520
|
Last night aliens invaded our dishwasher.
|
175455
|
Is it you with that fucking gold and platinum yacht?!?
|
175482
|
Entering that darkroom is like slipping through the barrel of a rifle.
|
175485
|
I didn’t question any of it and instead sat motionless as she dropped my wrists and walked away seconds later.
|
17541516
|
He didn't hide it. He told her he was a mortician when he called. He had responded to her ad in the Lonely Hearts section of the newspaper.
|
1754184
|
Why is the sky grey he asked meI don't know, I saysudden flashes of light snowbloat the cloudssea gulls are squawkingexpect them to peck at my headI have nothing to feed them
|
175400
|
When he suggested to her that they make a sex tape, because that’s what everyone was doing, she wasn’t really surprised. And there was a truly repugnant part of it that fit in with her desire for moral self-flagellation.
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