Most read stories

To an Overly Helpful Husband of Advanced Age

15071507 views1515 comments1010 favs

in which a man who is bored with years of retirement poses a threat to himself and others

To Zephyrus

15071507 views66 comments44 favs

In a field of barley, I see you, ...

My Uncle's Last Day in Hospice

15071507 views77 comments88 favs

In and out of morphine dreams, he flies through the unfinished roof of Illinois sky. Below, matchbox-sized farm machines. A silo becomes his father's thermos, the silver-capped tower from which he stole sips at ten, his first secret. Back …

A Next Step

15071507 views1010 comments88 favs

The first night I met her we slow danced to George Strait songs for most of the evening and when we took a break, our talking went warm and well as we sat eating hot dogs and sipping beers until she dropped a couple of bombs, first, telling me she was married and then, that…

The letter.

15071507 views33 comments22 favs

I am useless. A freak. Different. They all hate me now. All except you, of course. You will never leave me. Never. I'd kill them all if I could. Every single one. But twenty-four, that's a lot even for me. I'm so sick of the cliques; the special groups and hastily strung…

Table Talk

15071507 views1515 comments77 favs

Her voice gets screechy as she talks of the boy he was caught fondling in the bathroom of a bowling alley. The worst part: the dumb schmuck doesn’t even bowl.

Settled

15071507 views44 comments11 fav

Zusman snored on the sofa as Motel gathered his belongings in the dark. He moved quietly as had become his custom in the mornings. Initially he had tried not to wake his nephew on his way to work in the…

A Serial Killer’s First Day in Medical School

15071507 views44 comments11 fav

To rival the professor in his knowledge of various body parts is impossible ...

Blackouts

15071507 views11 comment11 fav

The Bird King is trapped behind the mirrors. Sometimes you'll see a hand, a wing, fluttering in a dark space. You may even see his breath, a pulse of mist in a corner of the glass. But don't ever smash his silvered prison. Don't ever let him out and into the world.*****O…

Have You Seen Me?

15071507 views55 comments11 fav

It’s as she reaches into the fridge for the carton of half-and-half with the grainy waxy photo of the little girl—Last Seen 10/2/06—that the memory surfaces: “Hey. That’s mine.”

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 20

15061506 views22 comments11 fav

The Gropers of Prague were there, all around us, in spirit if not in fact. Was it KGB? Was it a ghost from my past? Or my own hand? Stop guessing. It was Einstein himself. The KGB had taken him into custody somehow, though by what authority? All the

Still Dancing b/w Smokey Conversation

15061506 views1010 comments55 favs

an engine stalls out in the parking lot the driver tears her skirt coming through the door

Elevator to the Angels

15061506 views55 comments55 favs

I opened the closet door and there stood Eugène Ionesco lost among our clothes.

A Straw Grasp

15061506 views1313 comments1212 favs

My wife, Sheila, inadvertently clicked my e-mail address, too, when she sent her reply back to him and I read her poet friend's message that her love opened the window of his heart and she replied that his words were knocks that opened the door to her being, then I stood…

So Twinkle Made Lemonade

15061506 views1111 comments88 favs

“Just how many different animals try to hide their nakedness?” “Only one. And that'd be us, idiot.”, Twinkle responded. “Then, why don't we mind sometimes showing our bodies?”, she then asked. Twinkle could see it was going to be another…

Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.5 - c.4

15061506 views00 comments00 favs

Sora and Ciel stood before Dean Morden inside his office. It felt weird to the girls looking at him sitting behind Madam Mayweather’s desk

Folk Music Returns to Roots, But Some Try to Keep Them Buried

15061506 views33 comments33 favs

“Sandy likes the way Bob spanks, when he’s done she gives him thanks."

Intractable

15061506 views33 comments11 fav

~ ! ~

The Gallery of Wounds

15061506 views1616 comments99 favs

The blood is memorable/ as is the copper taste of that/ momentary certainty of lockjaw.

The Fact of the Matter

15061506 views99 comments77 favs

Jeanne and I were married for eight years. I never knew her.

Sorry, Charlie

15061506 views22 comments11 fav

Vietnam, Tet, and beaucoup Charlie

tiny thoughts

15061506 views2525 comments1212 favs

what if I die?

Bedtime Stories

15061506 views33 comments11 fav

I want to read a story that ends unhappily ever after: one where the bad guy wins and no one gets the girl.

Herd

15061506 views88 comments44 favs

We may think about so many things and thoughts about rain. We may think about where it is going, where it comes from.

underwater with their thumbs

15061506 views55 comments33 favs

And your daughter, Mrs. P, and your daughter Mrs. Q, underwater, underwater in the old swimming hole, in the backyard swimming pool. “They’ve all got children there.” La la. Yet when I’m naked, when I enter with my own body the mirror, the small sha

Sort of Like Bukowski, But Completely Oblivious

15061506 views00 comments00 favs

My eyes don’t close but hers are shut tight, and something inside tells me that to this girl, I could be absolutely anyone.

Bag

15051505 views11 comment11 fav

No chance for Hallo, we sank into an unlit station doorway and he fumbled through my shorts.

Sensation

15051505 views00 comments11 fav

She could see him doing these things but she could not hear him.

As the Wine Keeps Flowing

15051505 views1010 comments77 favs

My blood has turned to flour I've been in Babylon too long My heart was singed by fire But it's drowning in my song We raised a prayer to Mary We had to take our share We took our places in the ferry But we didn't pay the fare And we don't know…

I Once Knew a Sparkledrop

15051505 views55 comments00 favs

"And then I, and I believe, I alone, saw this small child run..."