Most read stories

A Diminishing Verse on Diminishing Returns

17341734 views1010 comments55 favs

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

The Troupe

17341734 views77 comments55 favs

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

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

17341734 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.

Leaky Pipes

17331733 views22 comments00 favs

I was thinking everything was OK, until one day I woke up and realized that I was living on an entirely different planet, and you seemed like a complete stranger to me. I was feeling so ashamed of these feelings, that I couldn't even tell you about them. I couldn't…

Looking for Eight

17331733 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.

Little Women

17331733 views1414 comments1515 favs

The place is buzzing with little women, all clad in black smocks.

Death

17331733 views33 comments22 favs

fate is an illusion we use to ease the terror of our mortality

Ages One Through Ten

17331733 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.

The Edge of the World

17331733 views22 comments11 fav

I am far from home, wherever that is.

How To Build A Drunken Sandwich

17331733 views44 comments44 favs

Kick your employer in the ass. Emotions are strange experiments in honesty.

Out the Window

17331733 views1212 comments88 favs

she lifted and threw her legs out the open side front window of the speeding auto

The Sugar

17331733 views1515 comments33 favs

55

The Grave of Rimbaud

17331733 views1414 comments1111 favs

I visited the grave of Rimbaud. / It was pale blue

Crooning

17331733 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.

Everyone Else's Business

17321732 views77 comments66 favs

"We all knew that the thirty-eight year old mother, with the house on the hill, was having an affair with Darren, a fifteen year old boy, but no one did anything about it. When he was sixteen the parents found out and were furious, but the police were ne

Blind

17321732 views55 comments44 favs

My mother saw the Devil everywhere, even in my dance teacher, with his black leotards and chest hair like bean sprouts. "You're flamingos," he'd say in class when we balanced on one foot; when we lept into the air, "Now you're panthers!" I pictured him in a dark robe,…

Anniversary Waltz

17321732 views1515 comments1212 favs

He hiked the hills of her condition She biked the path of his delight

Plucked

17321732 views1212 comments1111 favs

I walked to work back then...

Norm Never Says

17321732 views88 comments33 favs

He was supposed to be a garden gnome. Give pause to the squirrels, keep an eye on the impatiums. We found him at Wegman’s. He looked hopeful and observant.

Substitute

17321732 views33 comments11 fav

He wiped it with a damp cloth. He set it in a glazed clay pot next to the sofa and admired its scrawny handsomeness.

Layover Memories

17321732 views1919 comments2020 favs

It was a pleasant time, my thoughts were mostly good ones, with little effort wasted on regret.

To Build a Fire

17321732 views99 comments66 favs

One frozen hand protruded from the snow.

Life on TV

17321732 views99 comments11 fav

The television volume softens in the shadows.

Off the Map

17321732 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…

Daddy's Teeth

17321732 views66 comments66 favs

At night, I wake up, and Daddy's in the bathroom with a hanger in his mouth....

Old Egg

17321732 views00 comments00 favs

He must have been pleased with his composition, as he repeated and repeated and repeated it. Paul joined in the song. Then the children at neighboring tables joined too, until the song rose into a dining hall chorus.

An association game with the word 'guilt' (or how (not) to die inside)

17311731 views55 comments22 favs

The past operates with incredible gravity. Powerful, efficient, deceptive. Thin, sleek cords sent out by it attach themselves to your back, your legs, your buttocks, the back of your head. Resist. Walk. One leg after another. Easy does it, like a baby. Do

Temporary Housing

17311731 views00 comments00 favs

My cats are my world and more. They are rotund, little indoor-girl cats, though, who were taken from their mother too early to learn things like hunting and properly washing their privates, and so they think the mouse is just another interesting thing to

The Great San Francisco Poetry Wars, 14

17311731 views22 comments00 favs

I only knew that my heart was not in my life as I was presently living it. I needed the breasts of my Helen in my mouth forever, or I was going to die. Die! Ah, the life of a poet! I couldn’t go on living like this. Why should I go on living like this?

River Run

17311731 views99 comments77 favs

yearning amid the waning