Most read stories

The Ageing Beaver

15511551 views22 comments00 favs

This was just noise now – pure, raw noise, grabbed from their throats and flung high by some sharp claws of violence buried in their breasts. Even from his third floor apartment, they sounded like they were right outside his window now. It was if they h

HEADLINES

15511551 views00 comments00 favs

Warranties are what made America great, although hers has expired and the mailbox will remain empty for another fifteen days.

Heirloom Pendant of an Ash-Tracked Snow

15511551 views55 comments44 favs

If I do not hear you leaving by the door... The nearness here of this yet questions when I know you will not come so back again, Nowise the same as you were there before. My own reflection, centred at its core On knowing each …

Can Bone-Munching Zombie Worms Help Fight Childhood Obesity?

15511551 views11 comment11 fav

President Kennedy’s national physical fitness program tried to reverse the incoming tide of obesity, but for many it was too late.

The Naming

15511551 views99 comments88 favs

we name invasive species,

Grey.

15511551 views55 comments22 favs

"I found a grey pubic hair the other day."

The Ogontz Branch

15511551 views1111 comments88 favs

There are stories I will not tell, stories I shudder / to remember. You'll forgive me for withholding them from you. / You may, of course, not tell me everything about yourself either

Owl Watching

15511551 views1919 comments1010 favs

I attended the burial of our affair when I found her notebook— maybe it should be called her diary—that she had foolishly left on the deck of my beach house where she stayed while I was on that short trip to Chicago. Numb at first, unsure how to proceed, I went…

Startle Reflex

15511551 views77 comments77 favs

I’m decades in and it hasn’t gone away. In all other respects, I am normal. Life is hard, but I’m not complaining. The thing is, I am in a constant state of falling.

Painting with Big Mama

15511551 views44 comments33 favs

I still see Big Mama leaning over her garden to pick a zinnia to put in her still life. Her old pink slip, hanging diagonally a foot under her hiked up, ragged, stained dress, half covered by her paint smock, which matched her white, faux fur, bedroom sli

Nine Elephants and an Ass

15511551 views77 comments55 favs

Nine sated elephants and an ass sit around a decimated Thanksgiving table discussing the state of the union over the hacked to bits carcass of a twenty-three pound turkey. Two years in to The Great Communicator's Lame Duck term and the nine elephants, whose…

Matt Slade, Esq.--Mascot Defense Attorney

15501550 views33 comments11 fav

I’ve got a full day ahead of me; I have to write a brief in Lipshutz v. Fredbird, a property damage claim against the St. Louis Cardinals’ mascot for breaking a fan’s glasses as part of his routine.

Four Sieges

15501550 views55 comments11 fav

Nicole knows that Deirdre is winding up for the weekly pitch, practicing the line in her mind.

A Night in Saudi Arabia

15501550 views55 comments22 favs

I walk through nameless streets, narrow and winding, past shops selling scarves, spices, skins.

I Want You

15501550 views77 comments77 favs

to have something, but I don't think you need anything from me. There are poems that belong in your hair and no one else's. They should be like stars that only appear every one thousand years or so, then can only be seen when you are…

Missed Connection

15501550 views55 comments22 favs

You said it looked like I could use some dietary counseling and rolled your eyes. I was too tired to be a smart-ass and just smirked. If you'd like to offer advice in person, reply here.

Genocide City Zone

15501550 views00 comments00 favs

Welcome to the genocide city zone I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay We've been killing folks here All the live-long day If you want to join us You'll have to pay the price Your soul's the cost, so ante up C'mon and shoot the dice Welcome to the genocide city zone …

My Brother the Painter

15501550 views1111 comments1010 favs

My father bouncing his leg to slow rock music with me on one knee, telling me I should keep a special place in my heart for my teeth, to remember where I lose them, on the playground like he did when he was my age, fighting a friend named Bobby-Joe. Or else I could lose…

Thick Hair

15501550 views88 comments66 favs

He fell through her scalp-crust

Thursday at the Office

15501550 views11 comment22 favs

David looked at the plaque sitting on top of his computer monitor and wondered if he’d even touched it since he’d placed it there. He picked it up and brushed off six years’ worth of dust into the wastebasket on top of the mustard-stained sandwich wrappe

we're all in there somewhere

15501550 views44 comments44 favs

We ask was that me? The one on the corner with his hat tipped to the jaunty side? I've wore hats, I've stood on corners. Am I not jaunty?

Ruin

15501550 views1010 comments77 favs

We keep a ruin of a house, but I suppose it's all right.

Arcana Magi Zero Arc 2 - c.4

15501550 views11 comment00 favs

Marissa sat on her knees placing her hand on Alysia’s head. Her eyes held back her tears as she watched her daughter’s eyes shift back and forth.

Field Sobriety

15501550 views11 comment00 favs

A San Francisco cab driver named Jake, a friend of a friend, was my date for the party. I didn't really like him, but I needed someone to bring. In the 70s free love was the norm, but it was hard to have sex with a guy I wasn't really attracted to. …

Presage

15501550 views33 comments11 fav

I am calling to tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow.

Camp Lake (excerpt)

15491549 views33 comments22 favs

In retrospect, we should have been a cult.

One of Them

15491549 views33 comments00 favs

Who the hell wasn’t aware by now? What about prostate cancer awareness? One out of six men got prostate cancer, but you didn’t hear them whining. They weren’t waving blue ribbons in your face.

Trail, Pool, Snake

15491549 views44 comments77 favs

Early on, I looked for work; I walked the want-ad trail. Shuttle-driver, apartment leasing expert, laundry technician, account executive, PHP developer, dog sitter, sleep study subject – I would do anything that seemed steady.

Reckonings

15491549 views1111 comments66 favs

Even in the fading light, it looked big enough to disembowel a man.

Radical Middle-Aged Cake Acceptance

15491549 views33 comments22 favs

Cake is not the enemy.