1561 2 2
|
People questioned my motives when I became a smokejumper again. They said I had a death wish, or that somehow by going into battle against the big Pacific Northwest forest fires, I was still trying to put out the flames of the burning car in which my sons Jake (age…
|
156111
|
years later, she won’t go near the trees
|
156131
|
|
156196
|
...when suddenly I was pushed from behind, smack into the deep end.
|
156191
|
Okay, I'm here; I'm participating. Enjoying the back & forth with other writers. Waiting for penises and fetuses to move down the "Most Recent" list, but working around them. Well, that's kind of unintentionally visual.This essay, like many other reads on here, is…
|
156145
|
After my mother died, my father shipped me to my uncle's. He hadn't told me she was dying, so he could just mourn alone.Lena lived next door, Italian, my age -- which was ten -- beautiful. She was watched by goons in black suits. Her parents owned a restaurant. Across the…
|
156143
|
The first time I ever held a gun, I was three years old...
|
156155
|
|
156164
|
“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.
|
156131
|
Though his heart aches
his melody seems to flow
It creeps into the dreams
of all in slumber in the valley below
|
1561113
|
Ego bereft of consistency Betrays a heart hungering to toll. Unable to trust its will Or harbor imaginary gods, It gains a hold melding into a role whose proven viability Can give convincing cover To buy time to fabricate An identity that feels unique, Yet…
|
156053
|
and watched you grinning from your opulent spinning cages and although you were never less than always remarkably perfumed, toappeal I'm guessing to the sniffing about masses, to me they've…
|
15601413
|
Magdalena White Herrington praised the lucky stars who’d sent her the Klonakilty ghosts.
|
156064
|
Too often, Calvin's willful head finds its way into his hands.
|
15601610
|
|
156022
|
We do the work of fixing people like him?
|
156054
|
If you can imagine a ghost taking a shower then you can imagine the kind of emotion I have in mind.
|
156041
|
You gather their faces in the palms of your hands and their purple eyes blink, blink, unseeing.
|
156035
|
at nightthe mannequins leave their glass prisons and hunt owls in the forest***sometimes they dance a slo-mo tarantella in a clearingbone-white …
|
156043
|
It's none of my business,
where Carl puts his prick.
But I know one thing;
Them Bohunk women go to pot quick.
|
156053
|
Benjamin stands beside his bed and unpacks his few things – wire cutters, knife, tape, line, two blocks of C-4, wallet, brush, and a small stuffed animal – a monkey.
|
155943
|
|
155900
|
The little clapboard church sits stiffly in the sun. It's steeple marking time with it's shadow on the sidewalk. It is the last place most people would think to look for a vampire, but I am sure that one is in there. Contrary to popular opinion, there
|
155922
|
Smoke from the oil lamp traced the wall. It gave Nana something to read.
|
155941
|
The capsules tumble around, one of them plinking against the crown in my upper-right jaw. I hate the crown… a mute reminder of the first time Brad hit me. Swallowing the capsules, my tongue probes the left side of my mouth, finding the other two crowns…
|
155942
|
Accidental suicide, though. Why, that could happen to anyone.
|
155988
|
I caught her a-feasting with her eyes and smilin' at that Jesus- haired Waffle House cook, Dennis Roy, again and I said, “Merlene, my tiny kitty-kat, they's no reason to carry no torch for him ‘cause he may not be with us very long ‘cause, if you notice, they's no…
|
155900
|
Being the baby in a family forces a focused outlook on life. Not necessarily profound, not even wry, but a perspective that pushes for two things - recognition, and to be in on whatever is going on.
|
155900
|
Frank sat next to her on the gurney and squeezed her hand. "You're going to be okay, Astrid. You're going to wake and it's going to be over and you're going to be okay."
"You don't know that," she said.
|
155921
|
Grady Quail wondered why God didn't just have another son
|
