Most read stories

This is a Tender Ache

17201720 views22 comments22 favs

Sit back n enjoy the show in a puffy puffed-up chair

Snatch 9 (there's been a time lapse)

17201720 views88 comments77 favs

Blocks context...

Sleepy Time for Jimmy

17201720 views1010 comments99 favs

Now comfy is as comfy does, but when sleeping strange, please accept a wide range of cradle, crib, cave.

Out of Stardust

17191719 views66 comments55 favs

Nor woke, as always, to a dark room smelling of the lavender she kept in little bottles to perfume the otherwise stank air. Outside, she could still see the edge of the moon hanging there like a lopsided smile. The early summer wind blew in and stirred the faded floral…

lent (valentine's day challenge )

17191719 views66 comments55 favs

the names / she carried (within)

Ages One Through Ten

17191719 views66 comments66 favs

Age Eight: Custody battle. Reassure your worried mother that it’s alright, this will give you something interesting to tell your children one day. Until now, life has been very vanilla.

Children's Time

17191719 views99 comments33 favs

During what's called "Children's time," one day at church Sarah slides her left foot halfway out of her tiny ballet slipper to show Davie her toenails are painted the same soft pink as the inside of her shoe. "Look," she says. "My…

The Way Back

17191719 views22 comments11 fav

The car has been parked there for slightly more than a day now, and nothing has occurred—there’s nothing “unusual,” nothing “amiss.” Except that it’s there, still, as he follows his boys to school.

The Troupe

17191719 views77 comments55 favs

A performance is a series of situations. Each situation defines the characters that are in it.

Of the smokers I’ve kissed

17191719 views33 comments11 fav

The man next to me on the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Kyoto makes me think of the smokers I’ve kissed.

LA Blues

17181718 views88 comments88 favs

smells prettier

Looking for Eight

17181718 views22 comments22 favs

She knew there were a few rodeos in south Texas scheduled in the next two weeks. Mostly small-time stuff, but riders who hadn't had much luck might be inclined to improve their scores for the pro circuit. She guessed Lorenzo wasn't having much luck.

Undercover With the Weird Religious Divorce Rules Unit

17181718 views22 comments11 fav

An undercover agent posed as an Orthodox Jewish woman in a sting operation that led to the arrest of two rabbis for kidnapping men who refused to grant divorces to their wives.

Paying for Dinner at a French Restaurant So You Will Love Me

17181718 views55 comments55 favs

What does she have / that I don’t have / that I can’t buy / for myself?

A Piece of the Sky

17181718 views22 comments11 fav

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 …

The Fereigner

17181718 views77 comments66 favs

So, I escaped from the Iron Curtain out of Czechoslovakia, as was called then. That was in 1956 I escaped, and came to Chicago where all of you were for some time already. I know our grandparents came over in early part of century, but my part of family

Curves

17181718 views1414 comments66 favs

and the smiles light the way when the wind blows the darkness

A Diminishing Verse on Diminishing Returns

17181718 views1010 comments55 favs

My banker said, "We've millions we can spare,

A Museum of Numbers

17181718 views00 comments00 favs

At street level there is a small arrow on which is printed “Museum of Numbers” that points up a long narrow staircase. There is a restaurant on the first floor. All the way up the stairs, the air is permeated with smell of fried foods

The Preservation of Innocence (through Times of Hunger and Doubt)

17181718 views11 comment00 favs

Alicia got to third block early and scribbled down some of the derivatives homework. Others trickled in intermittently, drifting to their seats like impurities getting caught in a filter.

This Is Why I Write

17181718 views11 comment11 fav

I do it for fun

Buzzkill.

17181718 views11 comment11 fav

[EXPLETIVE DELETED]

The Threshold of Unfinished Business

17181718 views77 comments66 favs

Uh oh, the dry cleaning ticket

A Small Life in Slices

17171717 views1818 comments1010 favs

It’s Sunday- no need to shave-/ but shave, I do. A little act// of discipline in the discipline/ of routine.

The Letter

17171717 views22 comments11 fav

I knew nothing about the letter at first. When I came in that morning and smiled and said good morning, it was a genuine smile and a heartfelt good morning. But the letter, which had arrived the previous afternoon, was already doing its corrosive work of

The Ardennes: Two Vignettes

17171717 views1515 comments1111 favs

In the Ardennes for the the first time...

Life on TV

17171717 views99 comments11 fav

The television volume softens in the shadows.

Off the Map

17171717 views11 comment00 favs

It's difficult to remember, much less write down, the hard times you thought were unforgettable when you have a full stomach. It's hard to remember that dirty little room you rented in that house, from a Bosnian landlord, on 27th avenue and Missouri. The…

Crooning

17171717 views66 comments44 favs

It was a lover’s dark. They had been talking for hours when daylight lost interest and had gone elsewhere for sport.

Micro Trilogy

17171717 views66 comments77 favs

I start with a morsel of truth, then hide it with lies...