1589 10 7
|
I threw my hand / at the gearshift/
the car glided off.
|
158900
|
Walking home, carrying his guitar case, Jed felt the sums of his life adding up to dangerously high numbers, the deadly inertia of vaguely comfortable apathy swallowing his time. His moment would soon be fading. Because, like many young men before him, Jed…
|
15891312
|
|
158900
|
We crept to the edge of the cliff and stared down at Lake Travis. In this alcove, out of the churn of the speedboats and pleasure craft, the water shimmered, impossibly blue.
“Didn’t you used to jump off here back when you were getting high?” Ryan said
|
158911
|
I don’t personally know any models—let alone any supermodels—at this point in my life but some years back my father, who was working for the Woolite Corporation, was in charge of hiring models for them.
|
15882011
|
The suite of dark rooms/
extends forever./
It’s no big deal.
|
1588102
|
I had no portent this would occur, /
Ne'er did I see this happening, /
Not days before, nor those coming;
|
15881410
|
One by one our friends are kicking the bucket. Let's get together. It's now or never, we figure.
|
158874
|
You're a good dog, she whispered to him, a good brave dog. Her face was tight with soap.
|
1588117
|
She smacked his back a couple of times with the flat of her hand
|
1588178
|
|
158821
|
A sturdy and goatish original by know-nothing punks from the sticks. Who cares if we were puny and smelled like fresh milk? For a few years we played and rocked, even turned the Appalachian soundscape a little brown at the edges. At least at first. Mainly
|
158812
|
“Why do you write filth?” they howl
|
15881612
|
It's the little things that trip us
up: a small hole in a level field,
an innocuous root in a well-trod
path, a disinclined sidewalk...
|
158864
|
What in the name of God’s green earth does this say? “Chifferobe if you can of Aztec in coffee can”?
|
15882213
|
Only scotch and cheap champagne/
retain their reliable flavors.
|
158800
|
We dig up conscience-tunnels, pluck the play-flower of present choice for fun, run aground, past this dimly lit, though not to be underestimated, stage, and open door upon empty door, to nothing, for the lights are a pulse flickering in the perceptual per
|
158800
|
And the ocean was black and green and blue—as your dress that clung to your body’s curve. Round as the bend of the water trailing the false line of the shore.
|
15882913
|
With such demeaning precarity, I can’t read/
anything more than a thousand words
|
158833
|
The night wrapped its arms around us as we drove west, taking the highway past Medford towards Philly. The kids were asleep in the backseat and we were both counting the mile markers, staring out the windows with quiet eyes. I listened to the drone of the…
|
15872114
|
Walking to class, Paula routinely fishes around in her purse to be sure the condom she thinks of as a close friend, even naming it Rhonda, is in there to help her avoid a pregnancy yet, even so, Paula admits that sometimes she daydreams in that boring economics class,…
|
158732
|
“You know who Neil Peart looks like?” Gram said, ignoring Aaron's outburst.
|
15871710
|
The list of things to live for/
shortens with age. The list of regrets/
lengthens.
|
158711
|
You know moments like these. You know how your mother ruins them.
|
1587158
|
Mostly, though, reiteration of the old/
in an idiosyncrasy that strives/
to become fresh and fails
|
158721
|
For the briefest moment, she was part of the sky. She hung there. Frozen. Suspended. Arms outstretched. She thought maybe she could take off flying, if she strained against gravity hard enough. She would soar into the pale blue until she reached the clouds. They …
|
158710
|
Lu peeked at his cards again. They were still jacks, and they still looked mighty nice.
|
158798
|
Bert also said that somebody else at the meeting was complaining about his high blood pressure, and Bert repeated what Hank had said, that he was glad to have any blood pressure at all.
|
158797
|
I remember meeting you many years later.
|
1587107
|
Most everything is white because white means clean and hospitals are supposed to be clean. They wouldn’t let me leave.
|
