Most read stories

The Code of Hammurabi

12951295 views55 comments55 favs

We pull up chairs. I breathe in her Bath and Body Works vanilla, read her paper slowly and aloud because the ears catch what the eyes miss. Her sentences are awkward, stilted.

The Book

12951295 views44 comments22 favs

The following is a true story, or rather it is a true experience from the story of my life. Some say that just because something happens doesn’t really make it “true”.

On Global Warming

12951295 views77 comments77 favs

You think I don't know, that's your whole stupid problem. You don't believe in anyone. You must enjoy living in a dark lonely universe. I don't know if you know or not about the lights that live in your own head, but I believe …

The Sound of Human Lives

12951295 views55 comments00 favs

The room smelled of an old rank basement. Boys and girls of all ages crowded the stage. The room was dark with only a few lights that hung from above keeping the crowd dark and silhouetting Chris on drums.

Dignity Village, Portland

12951295 views1111 comments99 favs

A cheap pocket knife was the only sharp I carried in my backpack and they allowed me that. The man with the pot tattoo on his neck said, “All of us here needs some type of knife. You gotta cut up your food. We don't…

Bike Gangs Show Sensitive Side With "Baiku"

12951295 views44 comments33 favs

Some guys ride hills up and down, Then stop to terrorize small towns.

Love Cycle – a serial

12951295 views88 comments66 favs

1. How can one begrudge the cracking open of a heart?When the lava love fire loaded insanity of self-control disappearsAnd the raw spewing beginsYou better be ready for the truthIt ain't gonna be prettyYou'll wish you were deadYou won't recognize where you areYou'll be…

It's End of the World Karaoke

12941294 views22 comments22 favs

It’s End of the World Karaoke at Big Daddy’s and Lara takes a photo of herself for Facebook before she goes on stage. She’s holding a basket of nachos in one hand and her phone in the other. After she takes the photo, she says, to Javier, “Hold these,” an

Souvenirs

12941294 views22 comments22 favs

It is a hot August night — the same kind you remember from that summer after high school graduation. A cool breeze blows in off the ocean, sweeping across the boardwalk just hard enough to dry the …

The Long Walk Home

12941294 views44 comments55 favs

The last time Cyrus rode in a train’s passenger car, he came home a dead man.

zygomatics

12941294 views44 comments22 favs

i saw a sign and it read A PERSON THAT IS MEAN TO THE WAITER IS A MEAN PERSON i thought of you with your high cheekbones, the sense of entitlement unparalleled, the superiority complex that hid much you had a gig and it had probably…

Death by Dinner

12941294 views22 comments00 favs

I can't believe it's Frankie, but there he is at a table on the far side, just in front of the big picture window. I hold the menu close to my face and peek again over the top, watching as he reaches under the white linen tablecloth to plant…

Archaeology

12941294 views66 comments11 fav

I would like to go back (with spade, pick, soft bristles), and sift through time and layers, brush away the intervening years, and find: the tooth, knocked out by my then best friend, when we were seven, careening downhill in my father's wheelbarrow on Boscobel…

Cougar

12941294 views33 comments11 fav

What follows is one of those moments, though to some people, it would seem a fantasy, perhaps a "Wizard of Oz" era tale.

Perfect

12941294 views33 comments33 favs

a perfect afternoon

Because Your Choices Were Poor

12941294 views1212 comments77 favs

Foolish boy, you chose your parents poorly-

Awaiting the End of Time

12931293 views1414 comments88 favs

The alphabets will disappear.

Letters to Conrad

12931293 views44 comments44 favs

Dear Conrad, If you cannot control your dog’s barking I’ll rig up a loud speaker facing the general direction of your house, and every time your mutt starts howling at the moon, I’ll start playing “It’s a Small World (After All)” at top volume on the p

Arcana Magi Zero Arc 3 - c.5

12931293 views00 comments00 favs

Alysia raised the staff over the huddle and together everyone created a barrier. The wind blew past them and the grey mist surrounded them.

Trade-Offs

12931293 views11 comment00 favs

Smiling, holding hands, Joe and Lara basked in the sunshine of the mid January day as they approached the diner. The temperature was warm enough for golf. Joe had played in far colder weather in spring and fall.

So freaking tired

12931293 views1414 comments66 favs

So many dreams I need to visit, though

Beauty

12931293 views55 comments33 favs

She worked the research desk. Like most ladies before computers and cell-phones she lead a quiet conservative life. She wore dresses, spent time with family and friends...Emma also had been stricken as a child

Haiku for Jogging

12931293 views22 comments11 fav

Haiku for Jogging

When technology fails

12931293 views33 comments00 favs

But Jeffrey was flabbergasted and couldn’t explain to the officer why he was speeding. All he could manage to get out as an attack of Tourette syndrome hit were nasty, flamboyant obscenities. The Alabama state trooper wasn’t amused.

Reading Ancient History in the Evening

12931293 views44 comments44 favs

In my dreams I am cremated in the burning Library of Alexandria.

Arcana Magi Zero Arc 2 - c.2

12931293 views00 comments00 favs

Alysia and Megumi made their magic circles, but they stopped short when they saw a young man at the end of the street. Their eyes trembled and their feet moved them back without thought.

You Can Keep the Keys: Song

12931293 views44 comments33 favs

Here’s the keys to the house Here’s the keys to the car I’m going out and I don’t care I’m going out to buy a cigar Don’t bother locking up after I leave I’m not coming back anymore I’m going to drink whiskey out of a jar Go out and buy

On Desire

12931293 views22 comments22 favs

For two days his parents had been fighting, and they would tell him to tell the other one something every morning that was supposed to be some sort of slight at their personal failings, which had been inflamed by their twenty years of marriage.

Rocket

12931293 views99 comments88 favs

The Chicago to Denver fast train clocked 90 MPH plus, but braked hard on the long curve through town, sparks ringing flanged wheels.

Ethnomathematics

12931293 views33 comments22 favs

His academic nightmare is set in an examination hall, where the student takes a seat at a folding table in the center of the room.