Most read stories

Every Mirror with Two Sides

14321432 views22 comments22 favs

She was gazing down at her two hands holding the peach seersucker top, but without blinking she saw four hands—ahh, idiot, the mirror! But in the next moment no, it was four hands . . .

After all

14321432 views55 comments33 favs

The questions piled up so high I thought I'd neverget through the door.The ease of alcohol, the incline of submission. Guttural sounds and spittle.Wipe down the morning afterwith a shower.Redress in last night's clothes.There's coffee if you want it.Sincerity too -no,…

Suspicion

14321432 views00 comments00 favs

A woman confronts her suspicions about her husband's fidelity.

Character & Fitness

14311431 views00 comments00 favs

Character & Fitness, the opening chapter to my novel, "Death of the Dying City."

I Used to Be a Literature Major

14311431 views44 comments33 favs

I remember reading poetry in the library / when I was in college, after skipping / Sociology, Psychology, or Theology. / I remember thinking: What is this nonsense? / I don’t want to waste my time on any of this.

Lionheart

14311431 views22 comments00 favs

It has been two days since nearly seven billion people have gained some extent of super powers and I figure it will only be one or two until they tear this planet asunder. I have had to move from my third story loft and take refuge in the basement of my apartment complex.…

Transgression

14311431 views22 comments11 fav

I look as sympathetic as I can, under the circumstance, which is entirely unsympathetic.

Wheelbarrels

14311431 views22 comments22 favs

What a great feeling it was, the day I first thought about and discovered how toilets work. Nearly as exciting as the day I learned wheelbarrel is actually spelled wheelbarrow.

Luminous Nights, 7

14311431 views00 comments00 favs

Robbie took me out to Fox River on his father's ski boat one day, as he often did — but this time it was my eighteenth birthday. That was when he opened up his robe and showed me all there was to show of himself, begging me to make love to him, saying h

*cute little space bat with scissors*

14311431 views11 comment00 favs

I AM A FIRE SWAN! THIS IS MY QUILT! YOU ARE MY QUEEN!

Friday Out

14311431 views11 comment33 favs

Seeing her in black / with his arm around her / from the other side / of a glass door. / He gave her a beer. / She might’ve been thirsty, / uncomfortable.

Begonia {part seven}

14311431 views00 comments00 favs

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh; the rhythmic thrust of Mezereon’s wings…Th-Bumm, th-bumm, th-bumm; the drumming of his heart…Hooou, hooou, hooou; the exhalations of his breath…

Philip Guston, Painting, Smoking, Eating

14311431 views33 comments22 favs

As far as I can tell, all he eats is wedges of cake from the plate on top of his blanket as he lies there in bed, smoking cigarettes and staring up at the painting of a pile of shoes. Or else this is a real pile of shoes building up beside the

The Truth Of Jello

14311431 views33 comments22 favs

Franz Kafka opens the refrigerator And removes a bowl of jello With the face of Bella Abzug in it

On the Anniversary of My Grandfather's Passing

14311431 views22 comments00 favs

What I remember about my grandfather were his fart jokes. When he wasn't telling us kids about how young David defeated the mighty Goliath or how Saul the pharisee humbled himself to become Paul the Apostle, he was telling us about the baby burp that begg

Weed Fire

14311431 views99 comments66 favs

Wind was a sorry excuse for force

wintering

14311431 views22 comments22 favs

a name is what you are, and a name is a wall between. one day let me be earth, so you may be allowed to say you love me. for now i am separate. i'm afraid that's how i will die, and …

(give me a real moment with a living god and I’ll go all the way)

14311431 views1010 comments55 favs

I remember, when I was selling real estate, how you could always tell when there'd been a divorce. One room was conspicuously left emptied of its contents, and these rooms were never swept or tidied. Instead they were left just as they were when the par

In an Irish pub with a lot of oiled wood

14311431 views11 comment11 fav

“I love women. They’re like goddesses.”

Kandie Contretemps

14311431 views44 comments22 favs

She sat in a tall chair and there was only one time in the interview that she took her sunglasses off. She didn't really take them off, but just pulled them down for an instant with thumb and forefinger in order to look out at something going past the window. They said…

My Hillbilly's Got a Hole In It

14301430 views44 comments33 favs

My hillbilly’s got a hole in it And I think I’m gonna die I swear you can see right through him Got a big hole in his side I think I pulled the trigger On the truth gun at my side Then it just got bigger It started getting wide He tried

Bigfoot Night

14301430 views11 comment00 favs

The giant stood up and scowled menacingly. "WHAT! You don't think bigfoot is real?!" Big John's face seemed about ready to scowl in on itself.

Star-eater; a poem

14301430 views55 comments44 favs

Star-eaterHere lies the star-eater.Tilting on the ancient wheelof summer-glaze-breath,you speak the oceans. Fire's the mealfor you, the star-eater. You defy death,and out of your mouth, a universe openspouring forth, as fleet as the starslight on your tongue. Space…

another ode

14301430 views00 comments00 favs

the strength in you i envy/ leaves me naked, sweating in the dust/ while you possess what ethic i pretend to have/ in the face of those who expect from me/ so much more.

Old Joke

14301430 views99 comments99 favs

How many exceptional people/ does it take to change a light bulb?

"they call me the midnight gambler"

14301430 views22 comments22 favs

That night I came as close to getting laid as I had ever come in my life, without actually getting laid, after two and a half hours of intense petting, begging her to go down in the front seat of my car, with her asking: Why? Why, Jerry? Why? That was a

Zwarovski Crystals

14301430 views1414 comments1010 favs

It was 14:24 official eBay time. Louise had spent hours looking at over 30,000 items under “Elvis Memorabilia"

Not as a Poet

14301430 views1919 comments1212 favs

She's not a poet, but does she have to be? She comes to the reading to read the poems of her recently dead husband, for she made a vow: that she would read his work at an open mic. Now she is keeping her word. It's her way of keeping him alive or maybe it's his way of…

Me and Coleridge Take a Spin in the Phlegethon

14301430 views11 comment11 fav

Like so many high school drugheads I warmed up to Coleridge because he was an dope fiend. If you want to get young men interested in poetry it helps if you lure them to the art through controlled substances.

Magnetic Soup Wagon

14301430 views11 comment11 fav

We may sniff a gush of something in the rush of heat round a petrol bomb. Or reap a gift from the cracked head of a hero.