Most read stories

The Magic Treehouse

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It was an unseasonably warm day in early spring when I first saw the man in the treehouse. The boys had just climbed onto the school bus, the older with shoulders hunched, weighted down with the gross unfairness of his early adolescent life, the younger still scribbling…

Gray Lizard

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He can’t enlarge the rock—/ can only find its safest distance

Bean Bag Chair

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Up to the loft we went, shedding clothes all the way. No one is home, but the place smells like the fresh cookies my mom had made before she left. It's dark and my lips hit his…

Take Two Llamas and Call Me in the Morning

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A Massachusetts nursing home that doesn’t believe in antipsychotic drugs uses a llama named Travis to calm patients.

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.

Miranda

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...cinched the handcuffs.

In the Life

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You had autumn in your hair I liked the way you sat at a table And drank champagne My past years have carried me To sixteen countries Christ, we have so much to share Listen, I know how the other half lives And we can’t live like that an

After the Hoopla

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It is imperfect,/ eroded by the optics// of light, space/ and orbital mechanics.

Fifteen

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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.

Hyperbolic Doubt - And Wherever After To Discover The Truth Behind That Some Timely And Malignant Demon Bad Luck

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The toilet paper had been the least of the issue. It was just something else for her to yell about. See, what she was really upset about was the bank account. The bank account had been his, then theirs, and now it was his again.

The Garage Sale

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She excelled at plowing forward. He excelled at staying in one place. Eventually the distances got too great and she put an ocean between them.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Photosynthesis

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

Once I get through this

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Once I get through this I'm going to start: daily yoga stretches; walking the dog all the way to the waterfall every morning; tossing out, unread, Saturday's ads so I don't think about going into Walmart to buy Stack-A-Shelves (assembly required). Hey, even…

My Infection: (Chapter 1 of Milk-Blood)

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“Because the day I fucked you I caught an infection and now I have it for life.”

Clinch Park

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There was nothing on the lake but a / faint sailboat and a shadowy gull.

The Boy and the Rest of His Life

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Many men ran about, some retreating fully and others digging in along side of me. Some of them without a shirt or helmet, but all with blood shot eyes. My brothers and I dug in hard and set our sights on our enemies.

Really Beautiful Skank

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She really was a beautiful skankFeral coated and dusted with sugarAn inked up divining rodTelling us on earth what God thinks

jewels

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it is said to make your manliness last forever

No Alternative

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* — Eligibility conditions apply, no purchase necessary.

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

An Introduction...

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"I don't hear anything..." whispered Hannah. We had just reached the hatch at the top of the maintenance chute. "Open it quietly, take a look around and if it's clear we climb out as silently as possible, OK go." Responded Pedro. His caution betraying h

An Eventful Inconclusive Evening

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. . . I just didn’t think to call the mortician from the phone outside the grocer’s store, how gauche that would have sounded to any passers-by, a call to a mortuary from outside a grocer’s store!

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…

Beowulf in Hell (in Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse)

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They strung him up,…

The Technicolour Hours

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The other night / I dreamt I was an astronaut

Thanksgiving Carnage

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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

Spin

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...I made the mistake, thinking the point of a maze was to go in one side and out the other.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 70

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Ben left the airport and headed toward downtown Nice, his stomach was in a knot.

Paul Steven Stone Goes Topless

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Breaking News: Noted local writer and very minor celebrity Paul Steven Stone joined a growing list of talentless wannabes to bare skin and a hint of nipple in a shameless attempt to draw attention to his current blog posting. When asked how far he would g

Diana and the White-Haired Moon Goddess

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I’ll bet You got bit by Snake Charmer Boy And your world fell out from under you