Most read stories

Losing It

15131513 views11 comment00 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".

benedictus

15131513 views33 comments33 favs

he wanders the house/ crying for the hairless tomcat/ (gone for the night/ on an overnight job).

I, TOO, DREAM....

15131513 views22 comments00 favs

A dream that seems Impossible When fresh blood soaks the ground

mourning

15131513 views33 comments22 favs

The moment I was told of your passing...

Summer, 1966

15131513 views44 comments55 favs

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…

Lastborn

15131513 views00 comments00 favs

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.

The Weight of a Gun

15131513 views44 comments33 favs

The first time I ever held a gun, I was three years old...

Laughing at Ants

15131513 views55 comments44 favs

It IS good, right?

Possum

15131513 views11 comment22 favs

A possum sits on a fence. The fence is downtown in a not-very-big town. Hard to say about possums and fences; this is not the first possum to sit on a fence. Once, during a suburban backyard party a possum sat on a fence and observed. Before long he could walk more…

Doing Time Outside (novel excerpt)

15131513 views55 comments44 favs

If you are a family member or friend of a person incarcerated in a correctional facility...

How to Pass among Mortals

15131513 views99 comments44 favs

Take no form or face beautiful enough to cause warfare, or that which would provoke inanimate objects to song. If a tree wishes to flower in your presence, request that this happen very slowly.

Born in 1991

15131513 views55 comments66 favs

Sometimes I think living in a house with so many rooms / you can get lost just making your way to the fridge / should be enough. I chastise myself for wanting more.

Chancing the Moonglow

15121512 views77 comments77 favs

It's become sort of a habit now when Elsie's husband is away on business two or three times a month that we take the afternoon off and drive nine miles across the river to Marginalia, Arkansas and the Moonglow Motel with its red, neon vacancy sign and although to some, two…

cross-quarter days

15121512 views1515 comments1111 favs

sentinels in a frost-blackened field

Gipetto's Sin

15121512 views22 comments00 favs

The boy grew frightened when his grainy wooden skin began to melt, every fiber humming and softening.

Trade-Offs

15121512 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.

The Commodore

15121512 views1111 comments99 favs

The commodore drives a 67 Caddy rag top All fin and boatish power

Wait

15121512 views66 comments11 fav

I'm not dying. What is it called if you think you might have Hypochondria but you really don't? I'm worried that's what I have. Is it cold in here? Or is it me, dying?

The Death of Sherwood Anderson

15121512 views1010 comments88 favs

like the Bible in / Mauritania, like a mouse in a vial of ammonia, / like a retired coal miner on vacation in the Alps

On Desire

15121512 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.

Moi et Stendhal's Lust for Women's Eyebrows

15121512 views22 comments22 favs

“Oh yeah?" I said to Stendhal. "I found six references to women's eyebrows in Travels in the South of France. That's all you think about!”

Luminous Nights, 5

15121512 views00 comments00 favs

It turned out that my brother's newly acquired building in downtown Pasadena, was what developers called a "see-through" building. That meant you could look from one side of the building all the way through to the other side, without obstruction. In oth

The Writer and the Talker

15121512 views77 comments44 favs

"I’ve always wanted to write a novel. Like Catch-22, something off-beat that would start by word-of-mouth, you know, and become an underground classic."

The Snake Pit

15121512 views55 comments11 fav

They come in my room without knocking and I'm nekkid.

The Gift of the 12th Congressional District of Michigan

15121512 views22 comments22 favs

Other men looked up and, rather than feeling pleasantly surprised at the sudden sound of ethereal metal crickets in their presence, left the restroom after hastily finishing their silent shaking. Mitch joined them, feeling like a coward for being afraid o

Johnny

15121512 views22 comments00 favs

He also had OCD. He had to kick every dog he met. Johnny killed a lot of dogs and was bitten by many others. He was a cruel bastard.

SWING-SET

15121512 views44 comments33 favs

Soon, out of the womb ‘down there' is nuance. It guides you, like a legality, like your own breathing, in and out of overtone, hardcore hodgepodges, those inklings near sacrosanct beyond breakfront negligees and neo-negligence leading the good life. Isn't it…

Taikutsuna, Abburido, Boring

15121512 views88 comments33 favs

A Beatles haircut and loose Khaki painters overalls rendered the child sexless. He or she walked over to Hugh’s side and standing tiptoe peered into the casket. She, for Hugh had determined it was a girl, stroked the silk lining.

November Odds

15121512 views1313 comments88 favs

The stars align against us. Lines of force/ collaborate to push us off the edge/ into the dark abyss we’ve joked about.

The Real Story Behind The Lipstick On Obama's Shirt

15121512 views66 comments11 fav

The lipstick on your collar walked up the steps and through the front door, without a key. Her smile was hypnotically red and bountiful. The guards standing around didn't dare frisk her for weapons, her lips were weapon enough.