1172 10 9
|
As if reaching for the Divine was the problem
|
117200
|
“How about licensed-character theme funerals for kids who die young?” I asked, broaching a sensitive subject. “Do you think they’re”–I hesitated–”a money maker?”
|
117282
|
Alright is alright but alright is a state of mind, right?
|
117220
|
An old man leaning over his stamp collection. His burning face glows with bourbon. Underneath, children try to stretch moments. Each toss of the ball, turn of the handlebars a deliberate time shaping exercise to see how much distance they can…
|
117200
|
You will say how easy it was to love him, How he is kind, gentle, Quick to rub your shoulders in the evening And never one to forget an anniversary. They will ask you of his interests, moods, pass-times And you will silently think of…
|
117232
|
"Who's that?" Carl asked about the man standing near the fence.
"Says his name is Marty Lopez," Jake replied.
"For real?" Carl moved to one side for a better look.
"I know. He doesn't look like a Lopez," Jake said.
|
117244
|
I think I know these pigeons
They were once beggars
From another life
Once I myself was stuck like them
I was never
Without the thought of food
Or sex, or sipping soda pop
Off the sidewalk
And flying meant next to nothing
But then
|
117295
|
n truth, they are not red/
but chestnut./
But “Chestnut Wasp” lacks menace
|
117232
|
Let’s see. February. Bad month. Made 42 cents on book sales. Sherry’s mom died. 98 years old. Holocaust survivor. Everybody’s dying all around us, it seems like. Somebody told us a portal has opened and people are making a dash for it. Hmmm. Portals. I wo
|
117211
|
“Goodnight,” he said before leaving the room and shutting his bedroom door behind him. She stood in the kitchen alone now, a shot of vodka poured into a shot glass, and a bottle of coke ready to swig afterwards. This didn't make her an alcoholic…
|
117120
|
|
117162
|
OldShe would amble into this coffee shopevery dayOrdered her cup of coffeeWhen she finished it, she would wave thecontainer in the air shouting "waitress, waitress,another one please."As the waitress came to her for her refill, she would put her hand in her tattered bag and…
|
117100
|
(and the teacher’s voice, which we realize has just faded in at a drone:)
|
117100
|
and he'll be dead within a week
but i'll still be ordering a large black coffee
and smoking upwind
|
117100
|
She reached out her arms and spoke to the moon, "I ran from my fears, from loving too soon." She gazed at the heavens and cried to the stars, "I could not promise him all of my heart." She wiped away her tears and laughed at the trees, "Not a soul on this earth would…
|
117000
|
The sun was bright, warm and blew through my hair like the wind.
|
117022
|
His name was Gino. I’ll leave out the last name, not that I think it matters anymore. He came into my dad’s gas station on the near North side of Chicago to have work done on his fancy car. I was still a teenager. I accidentally opened the glove compartme
|
117096
|
Through feeling her life story,
I understood mine, more,
|
117020
|
My brothers, who helped support our poor mother, were Rudy and Emil, and there was a sister Blanche, who got married early on and ran off to Atlanta and never looked back at our dire situation. And Helen, who stayed in Chicago. And Silvia, who moved out
|
117020
|
Her smile was a cliff I stood on, trying to wrangle some kind of hope from the whites of her teeth. I heard the sound of the buzzer from the door on my ward. She stood there, a sickly ash tree, each limb flailing about like she was drowning in my sea of a
|
117000
|
This was supposed to be a love letter written by a content writer, then it just got weird.
|
117021
|
To do the proper set up for the story, it was taking me some time, but each bit was important to the outcome, and while he likened me to Higgens on the old Magnum P.I. series, I just laughed at his slowly closing eyes and folded arm, caught in a half cur
|
116920
|
Almonds of childhood – fending off needless tears and chocolate impulses, almonds of my teens, slivered and toasted industrially baked settling in on egg washed croissant…mashed into the kitchen sink of the catch-all bear claw, then the taste and shiv
|
116900
|
It was just a blob. It was a blob that blocked everything from sight that it covered, and it was a blob that refused to remain in one shape or size, but it was just a blob. It wasn't the first time…
|
116900
|
She says that she’s a prisoner in her own life, and if she wants to get drunk at two in the afternoon with a bunch of union men, then she’ll do it. She says I am welcome to go fuck myself.
|
116922
|
On my way home that first night, I stopped off at a liquor store on San Pablo Avenue and bought a semi-expensive ($2.98) bottle of zinfandel, a real luxury for us. But I figured I would have a paycheck coming and wanted to celebrate my getting a real jo
|
116931
|
I'm very worried that you'll find some reason to leave me so I tend to act overly assertive and dominant due to my insecurities but I hope you understand that this is for your own good and soon you'll know how much I love you
|
116911
|
I hold down the control-alt-delete keys simultaneously and the screen goes blank, sending Camus into a paroxysm of fear; for a guy who wrote an essay on facing down suicide, he’s kind of jumpy.
|
116911
|
I have the idea but cannot find the words
|
116922
|
Yes, I had pulled my own heart apart
Yes, I had slipped up on time itself
In its own backyard behind my memories
And scared the crap out of it
By not yelling, just sniffing at its neck
Longingly, tearing it apart with my teeth
Wishing I had
|
