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Exhibit

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Late in the morning, standing in line, clutching a bag of Meow Mix, I listen to the woman waiting behind me. She's having a cell phone conversation about the Treasures of Ancient Egypt exhibit. It‘s in New Orleans, she says, and the kids liked the mummy. I slide…

If the Shoe Fits

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I didn’t say to eat your keys and parrots. It was peas and carrots. Idiot!

But She Means Well

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My wife said she’d only be gone 10 minutes. 10 minutes. She left me with the 2 boxes we couldn’t fit into the car, and went home to unload the 5 others. She’d be back in 10 minutes. I got a call after half an hour, she was on her way back to get me. I

Summer XVI

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It was the truth, you'd say. Then someone else would step in, someone who knew the situation. It wasn't long before the entire population of our sleepy little town became accustomed to your routine. It was even welcome in some circles. Those circles were made up…

For As Long As We Both Shall Live

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"Of course I know," Aidan rocked him gently in his arms. "I know, and I don't care. You need help carrying that stuff around, cause it really sucks to carry it around alone. I know, I've watched you. But baby, we're in this together now."

Seamus Has the Palsy Now

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Seamus’ hands are shaking now that once were still as stalking cats.

Urban Skunks

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

Self Portrait Without Colors

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I am the ritual/ banalities of days numbered,/ numberless, and numb.

With Nothing Here But Me I Begin

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to unwind looking for the answer.I confess I wasn't so discreetas life demanded, laughing like anowhere poet. Nothing relieved thegod awful boredom. Many times Iconfess I hadn't really takenthe vitamins, crying like a courtjester thrown into a dungeon onmarket day, and felt…

The Technicolour Hours

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The other night / I dreamt I was an astronaut

Stableford

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Mike Summer's moustache was perfect. Hard bristle and so symmetrical it looked cut to the angles of a military imperative. He was pretty proud of it, thought the team of beaters, who watched him as he sat on the boot ledge of his sage green Mercedes 123 T, combing…

Cannaregio confrontation

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I did as I was told, running barefoot down the bare wooden stairs

and I am not with you, anymore

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Dancing at the pavilion leads to sex. A nectar builds up around the heart (damp curl of hair at the neck.) The heart does not know what it cannot have. It is dumb and does not know. But I, for one, hope that it never learns and becomes numb. There i

Off the Wall

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[...] in the living room above the fire, someone had gouged a letter A on the wall.

The Truth About Storytelling

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irretrievably we tell ourselves stories irretrievably as beaded water slides off our skin

Who Was This Guy

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Luke and Diane sat at a round white table looking around the room. There were clusters of people forming an archipelago of cordial exchange and small talk. All but a few were strangers, friends and family of his sister-in-law Mary, now a widow, though the word sounded…

Hot and Hungry.

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Hungover on the intangible ideas of a teenager in high school.

Giving Birth to the World

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Life's a contradiction.

Admonition

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Let routine/ propel you through/ the day after/ the day before.

Not Lao-tzu's Magna Carta, lxxiii - lxxxi

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proper words fail to get proper points across . . . truthful words have no beauty,/beautiful words have no truth.

There's Really Only Space For One Here

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i hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

just plain Jerry

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I remember one afternoon when Terry and I did it in broad daylight in a nearby park in Lombard, or Glen Ellen. This was after we had broken up already and I was seeing Jolene, I think, before leaving to go out to my writing program at U.C. Irvine. It wa

So Played the Pipes in Arras

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After he closed the door, Harry stared at the box for a long time before picking it up. I know what it is and I know what it means. Bloody hell. And at Christmas of all times.

Unfinished Journal Entries (which only goes to prove just how unprofessionally untutored I am)

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I could tell you right nowwhat I'm thinking aboutbut that would not be sacrificeenough. Takes all kinds, and youonly listen when it'ssomething you think is instantlyoverpowering. I swear, there's always something not quiteright with you. There's a silly left…

Still Mo Bands

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Cliffhanger Notes Sexpot Bunched Panties Cereal Killer Hello Kitty Litter Canoodle Named Anonymous Clock The Lizard of Oz Luke Warm and the Cold Zippers Megaschnauzer Truffle-Snuffers Pork-Pie Hats Helium Chipmunks Tender Is

QuaintAugust 2017

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a midge smothered in the light of disarray crawls back into the sage

Bougainvilla Drive

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blue plexiglass skateboard is holding the light of a turmeric sun. jacob turns it this way and that and lets it sit on its side atop parking curbs. denim legs canvas feet. looking down sign ridden streets and squinting. sometimes sun showers leak out. cotton…

Prometheus

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Allow me one moment of stasis from pain, If I must really become that one, Who brought by giant hand man's gain, And suffered through theft of the sun. No dagger pricks the injured side, Or vulture picks the source of bile: Still must wan hordes…

Please Do Not Blame Me

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I was disappointed with love, and like everyone else, stammered out of love into a place horrified with meaning.

No Fat Chicks

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I have to look closely to be sure But they are there Bold stickers on three sides of the truck's cab Porcine cartoons Cutely admonishing No fat chicks! I am enraged Who does this guy think he is? This contractor's helper who makes …