Most read stories

noise

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I am naked in an upright glass box with water running through my hair and over my skin. I am in there when the old man who invited himself into our house for six long months (because no one had the nerve to tell him to leave) opens a door and stands…

The Great San Francisco Poetry Wars, 13

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Creamcheese straightened out that spectacular yellow dress, tucking a fully exposed nipple back in under the material. She pulled down the hem of the dress, then strolled right into the Savoy like a wooden duck being pulled on a string, and headed straigh

Bonsai

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Adam, now Eve-less, stood before his most exquisite Bonsai, wallowing in the miseries of youth.Seth Gall has had work published in China, Canada, and the U.S. His work has appeared in Word Riot, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Nanoism. He is S.H. Gall in decomP…

A Slick Story

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After Slick Daddy — aka Billy Ray Thompson — gave up driving his log truck and took up with playing and singing the blues full-time he was what you might call a hot property around the juke joints along Highway 61. The women didn't seem to mind…

Will There Be Cliff Notes?

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The new members were asked to stand up and say their names. One obnoxious, pushy woman from L.A. stood up and said, "Ama Torrent, and I'm an alcoholic." The roomful of people started murmuring. Suddenly a man in his late fifties shot out of his chai

Tea Time

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But I sense a tremor in your soul as well, young friend, a yearning of some sorts.

A Night Ride With the Mobile Humor Police

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The intergenerational composition of many vacation rentals can lead to strife, as jokes that win laughs among the elderly fall flat on teen ears, and the satirical humor of adolescents is perceived by senior citizens as “flip”.

The Call

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I strolled mindlessly along the concrete pavement, the cool breeze carrying the characteristic scent of the night. I stared at the path ahead, but not really looking. My legs continued their automated operations. I didn't know where I was going, but that was all right - I…

Five Million Yen: Chapter 52

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—Hey, lover man, where’s my breakfast? said Monique, tousling Ben’s hair.

There Goes A Green Torino

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I will be heresitting on this pavementon this blockin this neighborhoodwith my legs crossedwith a dogwith another dog with his bonein front of my housein front of the mammothsunflowersdrinking a glass of waterreading a booklistening to Discobecause I'm weird that…

Dissecting

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skin is soft and too easily sliced away

AFTER

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Two lovers — their genders / faces / social identities / etc. up to the viewer’s imagination (though I caution you, dear reader, not to imagine yourself in this role due to the psychic intensity of the following passages) — writhe against each other

The Sea of Dreams

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When I wake, I wonderwhat leaves the smile haunting my lips.There is only a ghostly remnant of your eyes, your touch, your kiss. Now I long for the Sea of Dreams,but my body is here imprisoned.Awake, I cannot reach you.The ship has departed; the tides have…

To the Palace

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Less than a week ago, I was still a republican. It’s strange what an invitation for a job interview at the Palace does with your principles. I’m especially nervous because the interview’s late in the afternoon. I could go to the be

After all

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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,…

le Chat

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There was a time when I washed my dishes with a stray cat who spoke French. I won't go into all the details of what led the bilingual feline into my kitchen, or how he came to take the plunge into an abyss of soap and grease, cheese-encrusted plates, and…

taken

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today somewhere by water this photograph of a woman

Five Million Yen: Chapter 71

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It was that awkward time when one didn’t know if the night’s lover wanted to see you again.

Briefing

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Petty minds think arithmetic thoughts/ in units of dollars and cents// and strive to quantify the world

Get Thee to a Nunnery

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I was in a nunnery wondering how I wound up in the midst of so many nuns as it wasn't my nature to hang out with nuns. I find them tedious and redundant, though I do have to say I appreciate their economy with words. You never really saw a…

Bird Words

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a thinking man's bird high above coated with scent of life

Interior: Classroom

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No girl hits hard enough.

Our Date Was Better In Reverse

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I felt my words reach out and try to grab him by the heart. They missed.

Words

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often visit me in my room, so quietly, so suddenly, buzzing my head with wonderful, possible sentences. Sometimes I find they've been there radiating all along, children ready to burst out in a sneaky fit of laughter if I move just slightly…

Exploring Physics

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Our half-life, radioactive decay, particles shed leaving dust and bone."twilight years", "golden age", "evening of life"?Bullshit. I'm not ready to stop pumping high octane.You said, "I'll take you to Paris."Hemingway's address is still in your notebook, I saw it.I'll wear…

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 20

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Elaine Aster paced her office trailing a cloud of smoke of cigarette smoke.

Resistance

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I can no longer conjure the sweetness of a plum

Scared Of Paradise

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It was if you memorized my ever detail but not the why. And perhaps that is what love is. Was that love? I lie in bed waiting for the man who came after you to join me. I hear his heavy footsteps and know he wants to go to Hawaii too, when our bud

Section

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In one section of the map C climbs a staircase.

A Few Images Illuminating the Difficulty of Being a Young, Talentless Writer in Manila

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A ten-ton bus with ill-manners going slow