Most read stories

Some Last Things

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if you whisper your truths, they'll disappear

Jacques Derrida, 9/11, And The Democracy Which is Yet to Come

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The decision to wage war on terrorism gave to terrorism its political legitimation.

The I Hate to Fuck Book

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This book is for those who have learned that sex is one of life's unpleasant experiences--like paying taxes, or renewing a driver's license--that does not become less painful through repetition.

Furniture Fights

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It amazes me that with everything this woman has to be depressed about, what really gets her down is an inadequate lounge chair.

10 Easy Steps to a Better Intellectual Life

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Let’s face it, there are simply too many things too know these days.

In The Lake

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She says, “Put it there now.”

Headstone

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On the ground deputies comb the back roads. Border Patrol scouts from the air

You Were At Your Best with Strings Attached

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You were like a delicate lace that barely mentions the wrist. But you were also at your best with strings attached. Let me say this. If innocence is supposed to be so overwhelming as to do nothing on purpose, not carried away by sensatio

Jared Sampson's Mom

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She died in a car crash yesterday. She was driving down Hawthorne, past the strip mall with the Benihana’s, when her ’05 Corolla unaccountably careened over the center meridian and into oncoming traffic.

THE PREVIOUS ADVENTURES OF POPEYE THE SAILOR

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It's an easy thing to take out an eye.

Petty Injuries

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Fault and blame can be forgotten after three steep flights of stairs. Pregnant-lady-take-the-elevator kind of steep. I-said-elevator, holy-shit-she’s-falling kind of steep. A-faked-relief-when-the-child-is-born, but-born-special kind of steep.

Quitting Smoking

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After the affair was over, she told her husband she’d been smoking. Obviously he didn’t know, but he knew. One can never hide the fact that one has been smoking. He said he could smell it on her.

The Sound of One Story Clapping

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And aren't we are so then so rarely The hero in another's story When we want to be. And why are we so always Rounding stories on the heroes Who don't want to be? And aren't we are so then are so rarely Heroes in each others' …

Throw

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She was a dead bird the morning I found her, wings clipped in dirt and blood vanished into tiny braille maps on concrete.

Estate

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In the kitchen they discovered the instruments. A flute under the sink tucked behind a rusted silver pipe. An oboe on the floor in the pantry. And a violin across the ice tray in the freezer, now dark. "Not ice," sister said, holding it up by the neck.

Healing Romance of the Rose

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The dying rose spoke to the wood That kept in it's heart a love of good And all that was in bloom It could not let that happy rose Fret about in terrible death throes Would not be its tomb.

Dementia

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They should have shot me when I turned 80, a bullet right between my sunken eyes.

Zero

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My round belly is deflating. I disappear a little more by the day. It's been weeks. Soon, I may not even be here.

First Contact

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All through their descent sequence K’var had nervous premonitions.

Addict

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...what will happen to me buying drugs on the street, at night...?

The Color of Pebbles

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...her touch held such wisdom that it put babies to sleep...

Eli

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Eli the dog cocks his head like a pistol; half cock, full cock.

Don't Rub Me Out Now

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Don’t rub me out now, not tonight. Or if you do, do it right.

The Statue of a Writer

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As I sat down finally, finally to write, some brooding heretical hour of the night, with my ballpoint in hand, poised to blot page, Time gathered momentum, although I did not age...

Leader of Men

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"Look," he said. "Look at the knife. See how I hold it?"

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen

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My name is Mandy and I'll be your narrator today. I'd like to welcome you aboard. You will be reading at the approximate speed of one hundred words per minute. Total estimated reading time will be about fifteen minutes. At this time, I'd like to point out several of the…

Blind-Sided, PT 1.

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BLIND-SIDED 1 The humid night air clung to Julio's skin as he and Marco stepped off the bus near campus, laughter trailing behind them like the smell of esquites from the street vendor across the road. The political rally had been noisy and full of energy - and…

Reading Rilke Aloud in an Empty House

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I arranged all my books before you came, / so that it appears I read some more than others.

A Day in the Life of a Supermodel Armpit Makeup Artist

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“Skip the obsequies,” he said. He meant “flattery” but he’d been taking a “30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary” course.

Three Short Shorts

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When Uncle Dan got sent to the Alzheimer's ward, the ladies licked their lips. Fresh meat.