Most read stories

A Well Dressed Woman of Recent Times

27222722 views11 comment11 fav

One Overcoat, grey striped; One Suit, fur trimmed, red velvet; One Evening gown and jacket, cretonne; One Negligee brocade; One Costume evening gown; Seven Straw hats; Four Shirts for riding habits; Four Collars for riding habits; One Negligee, green crep

THE LIFE-GIVING DROP by Ivan Turgenev

27212721 views22 comments11 fav

The child began to think only of the reason for being there in the cave, summoned up patience and continued to wait...

MAIZE

27202720 views1010 comments77 favs

Now, these explosions announced, political bribes and propaganda weren't going to be enough to push things through. There would need to be survival from blunt force trauma and fear tactics, a relentless forward march

Beatnik Blonde

27202720 views3535 comments2121 favs

everything plus zero stays the same

His Name Is

27202720 views1515 comments1212 favs

Larry lies on top of her, he kisses her, his lips, she thinks, are dry, but she prefers dry to wet because overly wet in the mouth is never a good thing.

Bird In the House

27192719 views77 comments22 favs

"Because of the way our society is structured, a lot of people have to climb hard to get to anywhere reasonable in their lives, losing fingernails and a sense of dignity on the way up."

The Chihuahua Cure

27192719 views55 comments33 favs

It came from the animal shelter, seizing and shivering, with eyes almost bigger than its head. Eyes that followed Pearl like it couldn’t stuff the whole picture of her in its tiny skull.

Ars Poetica (for Anonymous)

27172717 views99 comments77 favs

Poetry is my rebellion/ against being what I’m not.

Putting the Fun in Funeral

27172717 views00 comments00 favs

The funeral was a blast. One helluva time. We all had the time of our lives. Well, all of us except Dominic. It pissed me off that Dominic didn’t have fun. After all, he was the center of attention. The whole day was about him, and we spared no expense

Milk For Free

27162716 views2121 comments1414 favs

The last time she wore fur-lined gloves...

Celebrating Difference

27162716 views1515 comments33 favs

Because they boil bananas and I fry them.

First Lives

27162716 views33 comments33 favs

There are some, I am told, who never see the dead, though I am as yet unable to believe it.

I Will Never Be Happy

27162716 views33 comments33 favs

The woman’s face bulges on one side to signify that she is eating.

After this last death,

27152715 views2626 comments2222 favs

After this last death, I lose at musical chairs. Rough strangers shove me toward the carved door. Feeling fierce, I yell, “Don't push me!” House racked with noise, smells, rushing, I turn the…

Three Examples Of Male Arousal Without Desire For Intercourse

27132713 views22 comments33 favs

Suddenly it’s as though a wild creature has swung in from a tree through an open skylight. Everyone in the place recoils and looks around to see if there might be others like her. But it’s just her.

ER Chronicles (1)

27122712 views77 comments33 favs

Thank christ for feminst theory and fat good natured shrinks and tall men who stand guard over me with real guns, real bullets.

Rattlesnake Pancakes

27092709 views2424 comments2020 favs

I don't usually take bets, / but I took this one.

Obsidian

27072707 views1515 comments99 favs

Listen to me, at the end of all things, and I will tell you her story.

The Fountain

27072707 views66 comments44 favs

The man looked at him for a moment, as if he didn’t understand him, “Mr. Wallace, you have a genuine miracle in your bathroom. This isn’t something that just wraps up.”

Man On A Balcony In His Bathrobe

27072707 views66 comments11 fav

Watering his pansies in their pots with his ridiculous watering can. Sticking his finger in the soil to test the dampness. Obviously nothing on beneath the silk robe. It’s almost fallen loose a dozen times Balding. Maybe in his late forties. S

Sympathy

27072707 views44 comments00 favs

“Are you afraid?” he asked. “No,” she said. “I’m thrilled.” “Thrilled?” “Yes, I’m thrilled that something is happening to me. It’s been such a long time since anything has happened. I was getting really bored, but this is great.

From The Island Of Final Regrets

27062706 views99 comments66 favs

A friend of mine recently died and went to Heaven, or so I innocently thought. It was only when I received a letter a month later postmarked “The Island of Final Regrets” that I realized he was still in transit.

The Cougar

27052705 views1010 comments33 favs

Johnny puts another whiskey in front of me. Except for him, me, and Petey, the bar's empty. "You hear about that up in Wilmette?" he asks."No, what?" I say."A cougar. People say they saw a cougar.""Bullshit.""No shit. Was in the Sun Times this morning.""Sun Times ain't…

A Felinist Critique of Macbeth

27042704 views66 comments22 favs

Lady Macbeth goes around moaning “out, out damned spot,” when a well-placed lick would have solved the problem immediately, with no unnecessary and heavy-handed dialogue. Once again, clumsy work.

My Totally Awesome Funeral

27032703 views77 comments33 favs

Construct my eulogy with dialogue snippets culled from old Brat Pack movies and deliver them with a straight face.

Holy Week

27012701 views3232 comments2020 favs

one day I will take you / to Grenada

Keisha

27002700 views2929 comments2020 favs

Keisha was the name she gave us. She said she had no father and no last name. We wrote her down as Keisha B. We already had a Keisha A. She was about twelve though she told us fourteen. Her eyes were older than we dared think. We knew her mother had been murdered and that's…

Down Cellar

27002700 views2323 comments1212 favs

Down cellar, my father showed me where he kept his beer stash. It was in a cubbyhole under the bulkhead, where Mom never thought to look.

Two of a Kind

27002700 views44 comments22 favs

What was it about women that made them know these kinds of things about one another, about people, the way they came together, the future? Crater thought back to Dresden, the exchange student from Holland. She knew things like that.

The Tall Guys Club

27002700 views44 comments22 favs

Some of the guys wear earplugs. They wear ‘em because they don’t wanna hear it. Oscar Livitt fucking. Nobody looks.