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Strawberry Swirl

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Keisha selected a strawberry swirl cupcake from the waiter's tray, so pretty, from the hottest, coolest, newest patisserie. Moist strawberrylishious cake, swirly pink frosting, sprinkles. Keisha was one lucky lady, scoring a bizdev gig at recession-proof…

Just Wondrin'

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Ever had the occasion to wake up look at your watch and see it's five-thirty in the morning — after sleeping on the couch all night? Ever then gone to take a leak, trudged down the hall, cracked your bedroom door to check on your wife and found a portly, balding man…

13 imaginary friends

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1. He had thirteen imaginary friends. They knew him better than his mother did.2. His imaginary friends were all born of a cat on the night of a blood moon.3. His imaginary friends had grey skin and red eyes, giving them the appearance of dead people. Their cheeks flushed…

Parajanov Contra Zizek (oder selbst proclaimed Brechtian Beast Z vs aSublime moving picture for magnitude of efficacy.)

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People act, today, as if there were no such thing as Death - i.e. they "psychotically" reify the notion that we "live on" in our work or more pointedly/poignantly in our offspring and in society qua Creation. This tendency was half present in the old Greeks - the …

Zapruder Film

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But there it was, amid the “junk” set to be thrown out with the rest of his childhood, opened accidentally to the page of his Indiana Jones Action Journal about his winter formal when he was sixteen.

2011 - What I Wanted

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I might have gotten laid

Bones

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Got something inside me hard as nails keeps me walking upright ain't never failed

If You See Something, Say Something

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You think there’s a chance the bag could be holding a severed head, or live or dead kittens.

MOURNING FLOWERS

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The gardens of Babylonare empty again.Kings and queens came back to the ancient desertto rise their childrenin the wise wilderness.But you can still heartheir hidin' laughingrunning throughthe mourning flowers.

2

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He sits in the best chair and it collapses so he unfolds himself up like a mechanical shadow and sits in the second best chair.

Resolution

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You say you want a resolution Well, I got one Let's start with nothing at all No logic, no war, no whiskey or bombs

Famine

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To be perfectly honest, I was lousy at my job. Or at least most aspects of it. The typing wasn’t a problem: I can get up to a hundred words a minute on a good stretch of unbroken text, and I’m pretty accurate. I even edited as I went, fixing passiv

Supernova

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Ben had us over, me and him and his boy, Benji, to look at the supernova. Ben was always coming up with these things with the telescope. Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings. On his wedding night he made everybody stop dancing and run out to the golf course so he could show us…

Kissing In a Warm Car

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Then I did the same to you, inhaling your scent which was one thing at your hairline and another at your collarbone.

Soft Voices

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soft voices singing somewhere in the black back of rising tensions crashing with the waves...

Mike

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“Hi, I'm Mike, and I don't wanna work ... Wanna play foos?”

Arcana Magi Pure Vol.4 - c.2

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Mayumi and Emi followed Nina through a path away from the shrine grounds. It was narrow, but the plants did not interfere with their progress. Flowers showed signs of wilting, unable to handle the cold slowly coming in.

Tabula Rasa

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When I was younger, I tried very hard to be myself, but it never worked. I'd close my eyes, wait a beat, open them and slowly bring them into focus. This is the new me, the only me. Never worked, not once. It could only last a minute or two, so I…

The Arrival

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On a certain level, everyone was relieved when it finally did happen. They had been waiting a long time for it. Finally, they could relax. There was no reason for anxiety anymore.

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 16

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Depression had Frank in its craw.

The Instrument

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She wore no bra. As she jammed the truck into park and pushed against the heavy door, he saw the points of her nipples against her dress. Ice filled his belly, the most beautiful pink-colored ice.

A Quiet Noise

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the sun is quiet like the mountains, the birds except for their wings

Strangers on a Train

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I'm putting makeup on my face. The woman next to me is reviewing legal briefs.

Too Much Information

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He couldn’t dredge up a single memory about the sex.

Lovers

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The lawyer is having a party the next weekend.... He's celebrating because he won a court case to have his alimony reduced.

Fairy Tale

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Ey’, it’s where I followed him down

Tissue

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A tissue, she was saying - hand me a tissue. Her seat belt was locked and she was rocking back and forth in it cinching wrinkles into her favorite blue silk blouse. I can't remember her wearing anything else. Her hands were gesturing - on and on- an endless loop…

What I Really Wanted

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you can't always get what you want

Arcana Magi Pure Vol.5 - c.2

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Emi paced back and forth, fixing her jacket out of nervousness. The cool breeze crawled around her skin and she shivered.

R.I.P. Ann Bogle

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It is with great sadness I announce the passing of Ann Bogle on February 28, 2023 after a brief illness. Ann was longtime contributor and editor of these pages and a champion of small press and emerging writers.I knew Ann since the late 1970's when she was an undergraduate…