Most read stories

Disposable Pleasures

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when I take the time/now to remember/ you have become/a thousand page/memory book

Edward Ogle the Andy

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Concrete coffeecake drumbeat gyrate Andy Rooney ran a meter.

Fly Fishing For Bats

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then something like a shark gnawing on a harpsichord. Her drum kit apparently is an entire laundromat. A pocketful of marbles spilling in rivulets, down a set of narrow linoleum steps, merrily as two warblers splashing in a birdbath. several octaves below

Rediscovered

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Remain in repose, a little longer.

Waist Deep in Tissue Packs

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It didn't matter if they burned or not.

Coyote Captured Outside Lower Manhattan Café

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I heard the patron yelling, “Hey, man! That’s my cappuccino!” when the young female snatched it and got away. But the police cornered her a few blocks away, licking the last bits of foam off her wiley whiskers. That’s how they knew they had

The Tale of a Fat Ugly Crow on a May Afternoon

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a fat crow rapturously caws over its good fortune... not a morsel left on the street, not even a bloodstain

gravelortian part 3

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god's seed is asleep in the carseat

The Fat Man and the Magician

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The Fat Man took a sip of whiskey, then replaced his glass on the table next to his fedora. …

Something Wrong

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Her questions apparently had their desired effect.

In Mimetic Sympathy with the Dark Core of the Galaxy

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It renders the inner ears inoperative-/ Music that once reverberated inside 
/ the brain-hut concert hall squeaks

Out of Time

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I was so high on the not knowing, I thought, you will love me for my confusion. And so I allowed myself to reach further inward than either of us felt comfortable. I imagined a delicious vanilla pudding at the core of my exploration, sweet and satisfying enough for me to…

War Story : Alternate Duty

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They say that air traffic control is stressful work and I guess it is for some people. It did require a lot of concentration but that never bothered me much. I could keep the position, bearing and altitude of a couple of dozen aircraft in my head without

That Was Then, Not Now

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Memory is unreliable, of course-/ re-coloring savored scenes-/ paler here, more saturated there-

Late Bloomer

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It was ridiculous. We were only in 3rd grade. How can anyone know at that age, only eight, that Judy F. was the girl he was meant to be with for the rest of their lives? But that was how Stephen O. behaved. As if they both already knew this, and they

An Absolute Doll

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“Oh, I shouldn’t complain, I guess, but she did tend to get a leetle bit too caught up in that Hindernet thing, but I suppose that’s something younger people do today. Why, she didn’t even hear me when I would ask her for something! Can you imagine?”

No Alternative

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For August and Enkidu

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Even among the thousands of black cats/ in the world, though, he would nonetheless/ be my favorite with those impurities of light brown tufts

I Don't Know How the Nights Can Be So Long When Life Is So Short

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I will always remember that picture of you in your bright blue summer dress, with your arms spread out against a wooden fence in Central Park.

living in the flames

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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

Initial doubts

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

The Fourth Prague Defenestration: 1

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Defenestration - the act of throwing someone out of a window. I went to Prague recently to visit my family’s castle, which is called Krivoklat. I’m not even going to attempt to explain to you how to pronounce that. It’s outside Prague, about an hour t

Seasonality

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... and August's drought/ will yellow lawns, singe the shrubs,/ and amplify cicada song.

THE TIDE OF LIFE

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It was an autumn day, late in the afternoon, a Tuesday, when the last murderer died. There was no official announcement. Indeed, she and her crime had been forgotten. Pancreatitis, her cause of death. Quite treatable, the cancer. Nothing could be done for the gene that…

Cocoon

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Small wonders, her worthless,priceless treasures fortify the wallswhile hoarded trinkets protect her like armor against memoriesof a desperate past.

Getting over the man in the moon

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First have a good window seat

Airport Hotel

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We construct what we want, from what has failed in the past. We thought this worked. The picture was buzzing for me and I tried to hold on. I went blindly forward.

Crossing Over

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Joan's biospy showed the cancer had come back. Instead of preparing herself for chemo, she booked us plane tickets to the Galapagos. “Death can wait another ten days,” she said.

Music Boxes

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Mom would dig through one of her music boxes to pick out Saturday morning's cleaning jams. Tattered, battered Payless shoeboxes with lids ripped to shit, filled to capacity with piles of cassettes; greatest hits albums, mostly, or Time Life compilations of mid-to-late…

Sundays

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Sundays I drive her to the cemetery to visit her husband of fifty years. I've had her for two, and when I tell her I love her as much as he did, she laughs. I have to hold her elbow and help her over the bumpy grass. Today it's raining and we brought just one umbrella, so…