Most read stories

Silver Spring to Phoenix

16331633 views55 comments55 favs

Vibrations of a cavern a mile beneath silver willows.At two in the morning beyond the Sheratona lumination of pollution intercedes realism.Cardinals and doves develop their melodyprogressively caught in beat/heart echoes,as with spelunker canaries fluting noxious gasa small…

Tying Flies

16331633 views77 comments55 favs

He plucks the feathers and winds thread to simulate an insect’s torso.

Under The Tree

16331633 views00 comments00 favs

There were echoes all around them, their shadows delirious and only existed in short spurts under the breath of the streetlights. They danced as their cigarettes leaked calligraphy across the night sky and she tried to trace it with her finger. He asked her what it said…

Estella

16331633 views99 comments66 favs

Everyone loves a story of love unrequited. But what about the stories of the unrequited lovee?

Preparation

16331633 views66 comments00 favs

We may not be capable of even trying to appreciate the fact of mortality until we are somewhat older—let's say 18 years old. But, from the age of 18 until we die—and die we will; we know that—we have the opportunity to spend some time thinking abou

Mississippi

16331633 views88 comments88 favs

“I won't live here,” Beth said, waving her hand to indicate the small Southern town in which they were having dinner—the most delicious fried chicken either of them had ever tasted—in a restaurant located in an antebellum mansion. She looked…

Seasonal Poem

16321632 views66 comments55 favs

One of the poems in my collection, One Day Tells its Tale to Another, published December 16, 2012. Available on Amazon. My first book!

Kickstand

16321632 views22 comments22 favs

Past the pavilion, past the factory, past the underside of the bridge where the surfers jimmy their sloppy fingers over the oil barrels.

Dirty Laundry

16321632 views44 comments22 favs

There was a small slanted hole through the edge of the door, and another one in the door frame. She pushed the door closed to check. The holes matched up.

My Brain is a Pre-Historic Babe Magnet

16321632 views22 comments11 fav

Ug seemed kinda down in the dumps so, uncharacteristically for a male hominid, I asked him why he looked so glum. “Ug no find nice girl,” he said, poking a stick in the dirt.

Larry's "Gonna Die" Parrtayye

16321632 views11 comment11 fav

When we started plans for the party, none of us wanted Larry to die, most of all Larry himself. Actually, when we first started plans for the party, Larry wasn’t dying.

Inevitable break down

16321632 views33 comments11 fav

I went to a drum circle next night under the full moon in May, scotch broom and lilacs blooming. One does not inhale such aphrodisiacs without losing one’s balance. There were children of druids and pagans and stregas from lands over the sea, lands beyo

Dozen

16321632 views1212 comments77 favs

strung from her window to a tree

Human Resources

16321632 views44 comments55 favs

Lawrence Light had two degrees: business and theology. I liked the clean font he chose for his resume. At the interview, his face was open. His eyes were bright.

Want

16321632 views55 comments11 fav

I want you closeI want to feel youinside me,softening me untilmy borders are blurredand I'm hardly breathing,my heart swellingso big itbrings me to my knees,I want to know thepain of losing youeach time youclose your eyes andgo to sleep anddream of someone else,I want to…

The Shadow People

16321632 views55 comments11 fav

Two summers later, the ritual began. Carol left her house at midnight, having served her husband and daughter a heavy dinner that left them caged in their sleep. She was like a thief working in reverse: she rose from bed with her husband’s first snore,

Valhalla After Dark

16321632 views22 comments00 favs

In traffic I cry bloody murder, but my bloodlust subsides once I'm in Valhalla. Chip Whitehead wants to see me on the 22nd floor before I start my shift. Charlie and the other suits have been looking at me funny since I sent Chip a memo suggesting the recession…

Mountains

16321632 views33 comments33 favs

match point

16311631 views33 comments33 favs

two roses her eyes aqua-blue no, blue-green

Political Poem

16311631 views1010 comments1010 favs

As if to ask if I'm okay, as if to ask aren't we the same two on this wet December morning as ever, as yesterday, a month ago even, she shoots me a look as I stand by the bed, then her sane mild brown eyes…

Hobby Lobby

16311631 views77 comments66 favs

In human rights, a man and a woman may marry and bring forth a family. It is a civil right in the U.S. but not a human right (as far as I know) to raise a child singly without the knowledge of the other parent.

Queen

16311631 views00 comments00 favs

Normally, Aidan looked like a guy. A highly feminine guy, but still a guy. He wore his hair in a buzz cut (a turn on of mine), wore tight clothes, worked out so he had a bit of muscle, but nothing over the top. And he was my guy.

Ilex Cahokia and A Common Piece

16311631 views88 comments66 favs

remembering Cahokia, a place we rent near the water's edge, for we dare not enter

I’m Afraid You May Have Made Some

16311631 views99 comments77 favs

awfully evil decisions upstairs in your head that could come back to haunt you in your later years;I'm here to report your zooming about hair isn't really one of them. You have found the infernal wheel works in all four directions at once. Good for you.…

Geode

16311631 views77 comments44 favs

There is a rock somewhere with the truth of the sky in it, the glitter of otherworldly charms that falsify the ugliness of the literal.

Everything You've Got

16311631 views66 comments55 favs

I reach into my pocket for my keys and discover the cough drops Iput there a week ago have melted. Now my fingers are sticky. And I don’t have my keys.

Friends

16311631 views33 comments22 favs

“Hi. I’m Rita Bates,” I had said. “Can I sit here? The boy who introduced himself as Thomas told me I could, so I did, and his friends all introduced themselves in turn. Around the table there was Bev, Ernest, someone whose name started with an F – maybe

Crazy Eyes

16311631 views1212 comments1010 favs

The kid with a testosterone chip Instead of a brain

taking work home with you

16311631 views88 comments33 favs

the sound of ashes/ being poured in the kitchen

My Name is William Hurt and I Am a Movie Star

16311631 views22 comments22 favs

Not to sound too ridiculous, but Hurt was giving me the hurt, and it felt good.