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Buddies to the End

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“Tell me how sad they are.”

Spices

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In the tang of winter warm and summer cool,

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

A Vignette on Fathers

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On 3rd when you looked at your 389th happy New Year greeting, you autotyped “same to you”. No one on whatsapp knew. At week 17 of IVF therapy when you and your new bride could do no more; doctor Mehdi said neither could he. At 5 minutes left, you mi

China

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Your words broke meLike a china vase dropped to the floorAnd though the pieces were recoveredStuck together with love and compassionThe cracks are there for those who lookI was happy to be there, content in that placeYou wanting to be somewhere elseNever telling me where…

"The Game Is Rigged" (A 2nd Letter From Uncle Bernie)

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We used to have a saying: steal an old lady’s pocketbook and you’ll go to jail, steal her pension and you’ll go to the Ritz.

Class

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Before they ever spoke, Linda and Meg had sat next to each other in the cramped lecture hall for three weeks, their thighs touching, while Dr. Laurens showed slides of ancient Japanese art. Meg's eyes never left the screen, but Linda glanced at her as often as she…

my future, maybe yours

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She went for the typewriter first.

Closed Letter to Management

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don’t ask me to set my goals./ I have none except safe air to breathe,/ a reliable roof,/ something aromatic in the oven.

The Greenfather

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Italian authorities seized $1.9 billion in "green" investments made by La Cosa Nostra to launder money. Reuters

Now

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I'm looking for the perfect/passage, a safe, sound/jettison to now.

The Answer Man

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Her legs splayed out in front of her. She was a mess

In This Neo-Liberal Society, We Are All Julia Roberts

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When he was 24 he ran away with a girl, forgot about his little office job in the city, went with her to the mountains, just the two of them, to live out a life of romance that a chalk box like the metropolis can’t give you—

Denouement

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No one has the right/ to script how someone dies.

There’s Just This

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Coupling—why did I say that? Who says that? I mean the clacking together of bones, the willful splitting of fine and tender skin.

Something like A Dark Knight

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Rob was having a hard time of it. His whole life was like that-- in and out of jail for assault, robbery and selling drugs. He tried to go straight. A career counselor, had set him up, with a job in a warehouse. But he just couldn't…

Return To Sender.

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"...his previous prognosis of never being able to walk again has been upgraded to 'severe and debilitating physical pain and mental anguish,' so maybe there really IS a God!"

First Man ~ 1947

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By the basement washtubs, I watched him skin a squirrel:

Don't Let Bears Give You a Headache

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You think about bears and it gives you a headache? Don’t give them that power. You see bears and it gives you a headache? Don’t run. Don’t walk but don’t run.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 10

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Ben watched the cat burglar snake his way from window ledge to window ledge.

Noir

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Upstairs, in a room where some years later, the occupant would be murdered by his lover, I sat in my skivvies in an armchair and wondered if I should call my wife.

Holding It In

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I really need to go to the bathroom.

Excelsior - A Poem in 9 Parts (post 4 of 5)

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VI. At Antares Alpha A pyramid carries four sides: only this one Is surmounted by a circle, and its cone Has all of what we claimed within its cargo, Or that shall never find a plan, or transit now; Though the sulphur and carmine skies that…

Mother

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He stood in the doorway of his mother's house. The doorway that separated the living room from the kitchen. Out of habit, he picked at the wallpaper. He had done this for years as a kid. Anytime a corner pulled up, he started tugging. Just a…

Deciding to Leave

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...Yet today, I fear / ordinary names for fantastic objects: Sex, Love, Mind.

Dancing

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The lights are dimAnd love's the mood tonight.Enveloped by DarknessPierced by rays of light;That black dressto meis pure delight.Dancing together,Arm in arm,arm over shoulder;I promiseI won't get any bolder.Eyes meet eyesYour lips against mine.My heart is pounding,Sweet…

To Walk Backwards

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Tom wasn’t crying. A few snowflakes, the first of the season, flittered down and landed on Elizabeth’s new headstone, christening it. Tom didn’t have his topcoat, and he never buttoned his suit. He tried not to shiver. Lynn lifted her face from Tom’s c

stop bullying racists

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Everyone wants to feel like the world has lined up against them and any achievement they have been able to attain was done despite the best efforts of everyone who isn't them. That's a given. But there is one group of people who seem to have a point.

Better than Ever

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It was a beautiful spring day and Jeremy was bursting with joy at being alive.

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…