Most read stories

Sugarexplosion

12851285 views33 comments11 fav

At school, Joe knew the answers to the questions. He used to jump up onto his desk and wave his arm before Mrs. Gestapo told him he would have to stop or he would go to the principal’s office, where the other kids said that the principal made you pull d

Fifteen

12851285 views77 comments55 favs

Lucy entered the open door next; she had been inside the cat litter house before: Brother Fran didn’t bother to cover turds he’d laid. He spoke of the outdoors: lizards he’d separated from their heads, world of work.

Posy

12851285 views00 comments00 favs

I hear you calling me, as if through water spilled within a glass--

Now I'm not a virgin anymore

12851285 views33 comments00 favs

On my second trip home from the University of Illinois down state in Urbana, it was during our break between semesters, I remember it was a particularly freezing cold and miserable January (1963.) I had a date with Lynda.

My Resolutions for YOU In 2014

12851285 views33 comments22 favs

Every year I make New Year's resolutions and every year I break them. So this year, I'm trying something different -- resolutions for other people. Hey world -- here are the changes I'd like to see YOU make in 2014(1) Cell phone owners: No more blathering on your cell in…

gravelortian part 3

12851285 views11 comment11 fav

god's seed is asleep in the carseat

Three Small Ekphrastic Objects

12851285 views1212 comments66 favs

Agamemnon and Menelaus were/ complete creeps. Achilles was// a pompous piece of shit.

Oh Captain, Good Captain: Part I

12851285 views00 comments00 favs

I once knew a sailor...

Morning Night (1)

12851285 views00 comments00 favs

Sunday Night She wasn't hungry, hadn't eaten for days, wouldn't even touch the food I took time off my fuckin' schedule to bring her myself. I walked through puddles of dirt and dog shit, I did. By the time she opened the door after four knocks, I was drenched,…

Flight

12841284 views44 comments11 fav

I know what to expect because this has happened before. The darkness, the stench of an unlit match, The leathery sound of old wings flapping and finally that voice made up of feces and dust, ancient and terrible suggesting depravity and painful deaths t

Chicago

12841284 views00 comments00 favs

For some reason in my daydream he would use the formal “ma'am” to approach me, despite the fact that we were in a swarm of sweaty grunting men in the basement that smelled like feral animal feces and jock straps.

Initial doubts

12841284 views44 comments00 favs

"Well, you certainly can't be marrying him then .. "

The Stuffy Poet

12841284 views33 comments33 favs

Getting up and reading his poem The stuffy poet sitting back down On the leather couch, which creaks under his weight After adjusting his narrow tie from the 1980’s The stuffy poet clearing his throat, twice, During an enemy’s reading The s

Picked Up

12841284 views22 comments11 fav

Tucker walked the long and lonely stretch of highway in front of him. The loneliness didn't matter; he had his own way of handling that feeling. The walking, however, was wearing away at his mind. How…

The Black Hole Cometh

12841284 views00 comments00 favs

A few months back, Bob Delaney, the old Black Hole’s man with the plan (and more importantly, the check-signing authority), hired a young new guy named Gary — who had the unfortunate last name, Indiana — as a geriatric nurse at Bufordsville Retirement Com

What We Talk About When We Talk About Photosynthesis

12841284 views55 comments22 favs

Minimalist/realist short-story writer Raymond Carver was fired from his job as an editor of science textbooks because of his inappropriate writing style.

In This, Our Life

12841284 views1515 comments55 favs

Her captors allowed her the use of the toes of one foot. It was hard to pretend she was numb—as if playing an artic game indoors. With the ball of her foot, she primed the canvas. Her big toe acted as a fan brush, the rest were sable, flat, or pointy. She told…

Thanksgiving Carnage

12841284 views33 comments33 favs

The game is set, thirty pound gobbler at the center; brined, browned, and buttered to perfection. The players take their places around the table: Reagan’s_Disciple and BraBurner38 sit at the head seats, eyeballing each other over a fizzing bottle of dom

Oatmeal

12841284 views44 comments11 fav

She found herself suddenly awake at five. She laid there in their bed while downstairs the coffee maker waited for her to press its button so it might gurgle and hiss, filling the pot with wakefulness. The dishwasher waited too, waited for her to throw its latch…

Something Wrong

12841284 views11 comment00 favs

Her questions apparently had their desired effect.

Lights Out in the Ardennes

12831283 views1010 comments88 favs

Once with the lights flickering....

Junior League Therapy

12831283 views55 comments44 favs

She laughed as she stuck up the word flaccid, it kept falling down

Pecking Order

12831283 views11 comment11 fav

My first time all started with the girl on the bench. She had those perfect eyes, you know the ones, where you see them and you just can't help wanting to take everything she has on her. Those kind of eyes. And I saw them first. I was the first one there that morning at the…

Grey Zones

12831283 views11 comment00 favs

There are these unspoken zones,where everybody is corrupt,and everybody is a con artist.Half the people are frauds,and the other half are phonies.Each person trying to outwit the next person,while everybody else tries to pick each others' pocket.Simultaneously and…

Edward Ogle the Andy

12831283 views44 comments22 favs

Concrete coffeecake drumbeat gyrate Andy Rooney ran a meter.

living in the flames

12831283 views44 comments22 favs

After it is over, I go out into the world, to the café. The flower sellers are setting up their booth outside the glass doors. Classical guitar over the speakers. A soft rain falling. Heads bowed, reading the news. Coffee, croissants, cappuccino. This g

The Town Drunk

12831283 views11 comment00 favs

“Living rooms,” said the town drunk, “are incapable of emanating.”

Working at a Truck Stop Outside Charlotte

12831283 views1212 comments88 favs

My name's Barbara and don't call me Barbie if you want to be my friend.

WE TURNED THE SAFETY OFF

12831283 views55 comments22 favs

It’s not like I could tell anyone. I hum a song my mother sang to me as a child. A dressed-up soprano to calm the tail I’ve grown.

Flashback

12831283 views44 comments22 favs

Most of the deer around here have a higher IQ than the hunters.