Most read stories

In My Nephritic Dreams

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In my dreams, I watch a sand shark sleep / on a coral bed

White Noise

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I don't like listening to the radio anymore. Nothing is clearer than a live voice with something to say. Give me a big field with no one around but the birds and I will send the bees away from me. I will deny all bugs to buzz.

The Infinite Wheel, Hold That Taxi

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Scientists have discovered what I already did once on dope way back in the Sixties. There are so many other earths out there that they are almost infinite. Now in our other lives we have to shuttle from planet to planet reading our poems. And o

Uniquely Portland

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He saw his mother standing over him, and he called out to her for help, but she only laughed and faded into the paper towel dispenser.

a mouth in motion tends to stay in motion

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I remember a big Walgreen’s Drug store (maybe in Elmhurst, or Oakbrook Center?) and this shopping expedition we went on. That’s where you bought your first Dust Buster, I believe (or was this another man?) Anyway, you made me carry everything. We didn’t

Trio Anomie

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We deny one another, here,/ as long as it’s plausible.

He Doesn't Poke Her Any More

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It was over.

Love in the Afternoon

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“What took you so long?” she asks. She seldom asks me that when we’re done, but today I feel ready to protract the glory, to tease out its rise and fall like the lingering chords of a Debussy pastorale.

Barren

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It was the coward's way out, to commit suicide. And yet, one had to be brave to attempt it.

Women on Motorcycles

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Do you want this, you ask, and hand me a blue silk shirt of hers with small yellow flowers. I'm afraid to say no, in case it makes you remember all over again.

Road Kill

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We looked out into the darkness and then at our children. The dark of the forest was feeding them with ideas, filling their imaginations with things beautiful and things wicked.

masters of their trade

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vampires seem not to be victims of drought . . .

Everything the Traffic Will Allow

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there’s more to life than poontang but not when you’re sixteen and your hands are full of heavy breasts

Birds of a Feather

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Contention over market share/ is bred in them and we are cousins

Lanyards

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theme songs for concentration camps!?

Love Stories

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I've got an appointment to see my shrink next Wednesday. She's pretty sharp. Not bad looking, either.

One Black Wheel

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"..squeezing her eyes and mouth tightly."

The Cracks Between My Keyboard Keys

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In exactly 100 words, I review the cracks between my keyboard keys.

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 10

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Sounds terrific, but are there any strings attached?

Chipmunk Song

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Chipmunk SongChipmunk workin' in the roadside weedsLookin' all around for nuts and seedsSmall bird callin' from a hickory treeAll's right with the world and all's right with meChipmunk searchin' for nuts and seedsLucky fellow finds all he needsAs for me all I desireIs a…

Doctor

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I asked her how she came to be at our little party. We all knew she was an intern. What would she want with the likes of us, the orderlies and techs and strays? She just held up Ed's flyer and said, "Why not?" But she didn't look happy. We fired up and someone said, "Let's…

The Street Singer

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The Street singer gathers up his coins and counts to a hundred before The last string stops vibrating

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 52

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In his dreamlike state the pianist turned into a preying mantis.

Cocoa Instead

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While waiting for the water to boil she formulated an excuse that the Saitos would be forced to accept as to why she must drop Isuko as a student. Suddenly the kettle sung out like a soprano, desperate to be silenced.

Keys

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life, bro/bra

Sam in Fragments

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He injected her with a sedative to keep her still. He projected himself into her narcotic dream, a small bar with tango playing from a jukebox. They were dancing.

In Due Time

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Almost every weekend I'd ask Henry to go out with me and Marge, telling him we could double and, hey, maybe he could bring Ellen, who he dated a while back, who still asked about him. I'd suggest such things as going to a movie or out for a few drinks to reminisce about our…

77 Words Sparked by Insomnia

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Mice dreams are a reality ...

Bad Monkey

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The hotel sits on the highest point in Shimla: a place of cedar-scented air, an aggressive monkey population, and summer houses left by the British Raj.

Airman

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Tent City has gone quiet. There is a deadline. I heard it on the news. I’ve never thought about the word before. How in this place it means what it means.