Most read stories

deserts wept freely over you

11401140 views77 comments33 favs

You had that quietness by nature (unusual in men) that I was attracted to. You were like some body of water, wide and more spiritual than anyone I knew. You could have taken me with you when you flew. I know you were more like a bird than any of the oth

Five Million Yen: Chapter 51

11401140 views22 comments00 favs

Sounds like something a woman would do. —You think so? said Ben. What woman would do that to me? I don’t know any women in Nice.

Remaking Your Dreams Come True

11401140 views55 comments22 favs

Reincarnation. Not a bad deal, especially for cows. For the rest of us, it is like being in a witness protection program. And all without the risk of having those against whom you bore witness coming after you. Usually.

nightwatch

11401140 views11 comment11 fav

Breaking the cat's cradled cord she examines her fingernails. She notices a crack in the paintwork, sighs to herself. Makes a mental note to cover it over. Cover it over, paint over the cracks. There's been a lot of that recently, hasn't there?

You Can Push Things

11401140 views66 comments55 favs

to the back of your mind like a box of unpacked yet beloved books if you want, but that's no life I want to explore any further with you. We don't have as much time as we once thought, to believe in something other than empty bottles lost in the…

Motivation

11391139 views00 comments00 favs

Motivation always needs to come from somewhere. For some all it takes is a sunny day, a smile from a stranger or a simple pat on the back. Others demand a fire lit, a carrot dangled or a whip cracked. Yet here the sun had set, the fire extinguished and th

The World Passing By On a Double-Decker Tourist Bus in NYC

11391139 views22 comments22 favs

They’ve got the tourists On the top deck of the bus Wrapped up in large yellow Plastic garbage bags Riding through the City in the rain The yellow bags flapping in the wind Yelling in the numerous languages At the top of the world The to

Broken

11391139 views44 comments44 favs

I rang the doorbell. Claire opened the door, wearing jeans and a T-shirt. I opened my arms to give her a big hug. She stiffened and pulled away. Stunned, my lips parted, but I couldn’t think of a single word to say. Ideal, Phillis. ”Broken”, Pure

The Grey Day and the Blue Day

11391139 views11 comment11 fav

The reality of the now makes tomorrow very distant.

and now for the news ...

11391139 views11 comment00 favs

nope. no excerpt for you.

Life of a Dead Bird

11391139 views11 comment11 fav

I have the idea but cannot find the words

The Little Engine That Shouldn't (a political metaphor)

11391139 views00 comments00 favs

The rings on the engine Not designed for race gas Did allow for some seepage Did allow fuel to pass The fumes were quite powerful To the pan they did charge The spark was quite forceful The explosion was large

Under New Management

11391139 views44 comments33 favs

You always liked the color of your nose, raspberry red. It matched the glittery dazzle of your rainbow hair when the neon lights hit it just right, and man did they always hit it just right, the vibrant honey-yellow big-bird frizz and feathers, swaying to and fro as…

Silent Now, Against the Wash of Time

11391139 views77 comments22 favs

Let us both stand steep, alone, this night; the tide Lies, hastening to us: and, far away, I hear the sea gulls sweep, through the divide That shapes drear skies, between dead lights of day. What worth was love? Man severs all he is, To make one…

A Nice Girl Is Like Powder

11391139 views22 comments33 favs

A nice girl is like powder, quick to anger, fresh, impudent, too quick to know what expletives fate speaks. It was a cold year for trash talk and sheer silk. And yes, the fox was smoking, who could attract or irritate a nice girl with the same look, a wom

The Monster's Other Face

11391139 views00 comments00 favs

The yellowed and peeling posters of men and women with grotesque disfigurements under the slogan, “Know Your Criminals!” that peered down at him from the walls were a familiar sight. Everyone knew that people with faces like that were as monstrous as they looked…

Totem Song

11391139 views00 comments00 favs

Will you leave me, you, the one?

Living on Non-Skid Row

11391139 views33 comments22 favs

Here’s the local group of grumpy gray-haired men Chewing over politics as if it’s important As if their endless discussing of it, Waving their hands in the air, gesturing, Is going to change the world How do these guys stop from having heart a

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 46

11391139 views44 comments22 favs

Maria Monsanto, the curator of Francesco Martinelli's Atmospheres show, stood in the middle of the third-floor gallery.

Twilight Is Merely A Shade of Color

11391139 views22 comments11 fav

Its edges fluttering in the dull breeze, today's town newspaper lay at my old feet, open to the obituary page.

Where it is Warm, in memory of Jean Craighead George

11381138 views11 comment11 fav

Michael remembered when he would lay awake at night as a child and in his mind escape to the woods.

The Storyteller

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

Our fingers, arms and toes slither over one another along the smooth crevices between muscle and bone like familiar childhood paths.

Anaphylaxis

11381138 views2424 comments1111 favs

I remembered our wedding reception. I tasted the crab cake, pulled her from greeting people, said, you have to try. And she did.

The sound of your shoes

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

The smell of your chest, and the taste of your lips as they touch mine

The Anguish of Easter

11381138 views99 comments88 favs

I used to be so certain about right and wrong. About choices and their consequences. About heaven and hell and how there was no room in between no space in between no point in between (take that point how you will)

The Persistence of Loss

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

"I packed up the rest of his things today. Irony is the fact I'm still picking up after him, despite the fact he's been gone for two weeks."

The Circumcised Heart

11381138 views55 comments33 favs

You shall hear, against your ear, the beating of a circumcised heart.

Day Seven

11381138 views44 comments33 favs

Once again, I start the engine.

Character Witness

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

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…

Through Darkly Tinted Glass

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

Something much longer.