Most read stories

van Gogh's chair. van Gogh

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Finally he painted his own chair, maybe because no one would sit for him anymore (after he cut off a piece of his own ear.) The chair centered and framed so that one leg of it reached down to the bottom of the painting, seeming to be skewed a little, ou

No More

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Dawn is a grey mass, what is left of the night's chill slips between my t-shirt and belly skin. Somewhere else you once wrote that being loved when you don't love in return equals rape.

Johnny Bruzzone: Pool Hustler

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I was a coward and didn’t want to get killed like Heimley. Heimley was a nut at high school. I saw him myself one night put his hand right through the windshield of this car he was working on, along with a monkey wrench. Sure, he was drunk, but th

Precipice of Questions

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He stood with the bride of quietness / on the precipice of questions

Walls

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No one would have picked me out of a crowd as the morbid one, but it was true that thoughts of easy exits floated through my consciousness regularly. I did my research—the easy methods, painless, guaranteed methods—and felt prepared to do, well, w

People Watching and Missed Opportunities at the Bus Depot

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It's not actually about blow jobs, sex, or coitus of any kind. You probably won't like it.

The Vessel

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For so long as I think I shall live.

Seven Circles on Her Head

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White, hot pain shot runs from her through the wires, ending at the laptop, leaving a background buzz in her head.

Visiting Mom's Family in Oklahoma

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The strangers say hi at the Piggly Wiggly grocery stores, compliment my gold necklace, tell me I'm as beautiful as a Southern Belle, ask where I got my Gucci shoes. “Wow, New…

Starlight

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I've been chasing something that cannot be caught.

Wolfie

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Sharon called me “Wolfie” (very sweet!) and I distinctly heard her gasp, “Jesus!” when I entered her the first time on my dad’s ski boat, while you and Rick DeMille came swimming up behind us, yelling out my name: “Pharaoh … Pharaoh.” We

Urban Skunks

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Urban skunks want to visit your neighborhood and be bold in your neighborhood.

The Bricks

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He ordered a palace built, and the builders came to blows, which is why the father’s eyes have swollen shut, and the oldest son’s knuckles are bright plums.

Christian Bell

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Night LifeThen things started getting weird. I could give you a time frame but it was back when times didn't matter really, one hour as good as the next and the minutes used to be minutes not the digital counting that makes this crazy world now spin. Here was…

Another Irresolute Essay on Lit and Crit

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. . . we agree that formal standards for identifying literary merit exist and are capable of being discerned, not merely of being ascribed. —but is this itself true?

You've Got that Wrong Kind of Brain

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He and Nick got a long very well, and would speak about things for hours until the morning came; and Betsy would supply them with food and coffee, and clever sayings all the while Johnny watched it all over. Tonight though, they had watched La Rafle, and

With Respect to a Fellow Poet

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We do not all love each other for the sake of our shared art, apparently.

Lingua Materna, Lingua Imperiale

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arrogant, sullen,/ supple and ambiguous,// English seems the ideal tongue

Worst. Party. Ever.

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"The food tastes kind of...off."

Writing From Paintings (a meditation on the work of artist Michelle Manley)

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Since we are heading past the outskirts, we find ourselves with a hidden reserve of valor and ability. What is this ability? It is the way we look now at strange new clouds menacing and waiting. It is also the way we head forth into them and their environ

12:00 Somewhere

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"Time really flies.” “I thought that was only when you were having fun,” he said. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Sleeplessness

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The retina was burning, the liquid had dried up, and the veins bursting. My eyes bled. But I kept them open. The sound was like nails on glass, screeching endlessly. Coming close to me louder, harder, faster.

Гумилёв и Ахматова via странников

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Walking down an unfamiliar street, / I heard a sudden caw of crows, / some thunder afar, strums of a lute— / a streetcar came flying along.

Border Town Dawn/There's a Momentary Cloud (Reach for the Sky)

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Border town meant one thing; we were caught up real good in the middle of something preternaturally dangerous; and understanding was at the very least a hundred miles or so away in either direction. All I…

Jade Cicada

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Jade in the emperor’s death mouth – to the grave – all openings closed – no breath – no air – no life to enter to leave – the end should be silent – you stop my mouth

Cannabis Emerges, Rampant

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What the hell is going on out here!? Yelled the man with the shotgun

Experimental Poetry

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Sometimes the dirt just stays dirt

Food, Marcia, Food!

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Marcia Get a load of This I got two pictures Of food Of food Marcia You're gonna Love it Look at this I got one Of just the salt and Pepper shaker God You're gonna Love this

Tabasco Revenge

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Avant-garde morning sun floated through bay windows, the illumination cascaded and curled and descended the air ripples which emanated from the oscillating fan in the corner. Gathered on the rug the light hovered in anxious intensity. Suspended dust- jelly was…

Credenza

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Now the house is empty of romance except a potted flowering plant from my mother for Valentine's Day. No man has set foot in my museum since I moved here. One man has set foot. The owner's brother to see about the gasket under the toilet. The Comcast installers, twice. The…