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Tumbleweed Suite

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in late fall, Rome, sans wind, sans rancor, sans sand or rain, sans hate ...

A Body Unable

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Once again there's too much to handle and no space to process

Rubber-Band Requiem

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“Now we lay you in your grave There was no way you could be saved You hate our lord Jesus and he can tell Which is why you will burn in hell.”

Wattle and Daub - 3

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Walter met Danial at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. They didn't have much in common at first, other than AA, with Walter on the recovery side of treatment and Danial reluctantly just beginning.

Application for Position as Failure

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Dear Sir/ Madam I wish to apply for the position you advertised in the Daily Sun. Although my expertise is in self-obliteration and self-worth (or lack of), and my work mainly in disappointment, I do have much experience in failure, which this letter will…

Googling A Ghost

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My buddy had been in the computer business, a systems analyst. Surely there would be some mention of him online. But there was nothing. Nothing, that is, until I saw the obituary.

At the End of the World There Will Only Be Renegade Lovers

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I didn't believe in hiding secrets or broken arrows. So I told my new girlfriend, who in earnest, tried shedding pounds like ugly memories, who glued herself to my shag carpet, watching exerise videos--that I didn't sleep alone. I tried to be as sensitive as possible,…

Where They Have to Take You In

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Sunday morning beginning with a bang. Accused, found wanting, sentenced.

Want

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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…

Static

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The days cut off by damp chill with every thought a different variety of protection.

Everything to do with you

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I don't know, I could go on all day with these little niches he found in every person that made them at least a little interesting. Everyone collects baseball cards.

Wishing for the Shadow of a Perfect Cube

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Words darken with smut and irony over time.

Our Merchant-Ivory Weekend

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“A shibboleth is a test—a way to separate da wheat from da chaff that's as old as the Bible, but as new as the latest trend in men's fashions,” Gus says.

Conviction

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“You’ve put all my anorexic friends on the table nearest the buffet,” I say. “And all my bulimic friends on the other side of the room away from the buffet and the toilets.”

Working things out in my head

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A shot in the dark and everything goes black. It's as if the story never happened.

Bunnies

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I laughed maniacally in my head at the thought, but I kept picking at it all the same, the bunnies had plans for us.

Assiduity Two

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I'm old enough to be her father.

Barbarian(s) Within the Gates

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This writers' conference (sponsored by VQR, which had run its banner ad atop the Fictionaut home page in the summer of 2014, which begins to explain both my attendance and this essay) revealed itself as an apt subject . . .

The Little Room Where We'd Fit

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She asked if I needed to be measured for size “to make sure they feel really good on you,” her lips all gloss and smile. I was nineteen and knew my size but changes in weight had caused fluctuations before so maybe I'd be different…

Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.3 - c.2

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Sora rubbed her neck as Azure gave her attention. She did not know where to begin, thinking about what to say first.

The Judge's Wife Part 10

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The Judge waited for the perfect wave.

Helene

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My little friend is no bigger than a minute. An even five feet tall, if that.

The Artist

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The story itself is not much longer than a snippet. What is a snippet anyway?

Grocery Deliveries

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I was shooting baskets in the driveway when the Mexican kid delivered the groceries. He drove in fast and loud . . .

Impetuous Daffodils

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...the daffodils will fling/ their yellow petals, taunting winter

The Misfortune 500

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When I first started out in my working career, I made it the habit of obtaining jobs with companies that were about to go under. (I wrote more books while on unemployment than by any other method.) I was a real bloodhound at sniffing out the pre-dawn od

RINSE AND OXIDATION

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...listening to the ache of errs our mouths had become.

Someone for Everyone Parts 1-10: A work in progress

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“Well, aren’t you the cutest thing?” Shelly looked around for the source of the line and one of the better looking bar flies met her gaze. He wore a faded t-shirt with a swoosh graphic that read ‘Just Do Me‘. True to its mystical nature, her indefatigabl

Funhouse

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beatings and tear gas

Bow Ties & Brooklyn Dressing

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collars of obedience / discarded in the pyre / with draft cards and bras