Most read stories

Five Million Yen: Chapter 44

10801080 views00 comments00 favs

He found a small place on a side street, Bar Oiseaux Ésotérique. There was a sign on the door that read: Jazz Ce Soir: Giovanni Lezardino: Jazz grillé et sautés. Ben had met Lezardino at the Newport Jazz Festival last year.

goddess of personified flesh

10801080 views44 comments22 favs

And yes, I may be the goddess of personified flesh, the same little goddess of curled locks, of little sleep, on fire, ablaze. With my sudden weakness, stoppage of breath, pulse cut short, leaving the wrist. And you of stolen, fraudulent face, troub

The Heart

10801080 views00 comments00 favs

Oh, I cant stop singingThis human heart beatingWhat people say do not interest meAs much what goes on in their heartsThe heart is were they are really atNo matter what they saySome call it the IdSome call it the subconscious Some call in the willSome call it the…

luncheon on the grass

10801080 views22 comments11 fav

I had a dream, I remember, where I am in this painting, Luncheon on the Grass. My dress was thrown off and the picnic basket, filled with bread and fruit, is spilled out upon it, and I am sitting nude on my underclothing, with two gentlemen fully dresse

The Passing of Odd Fellows ---- Tales From the IV

10801080 views22 comments11 fav

The appointed day came without much fanfare. The day was gloomy, but it would do. They climbed to the roof of the house to a small landing where Smiley placed the tiny piano stool smack dab in the middle. As soon as Ethan sat down Smiley rotated the chair

The Serendipitous Nature of Being

10801080 views22 comments11 fav

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

Buena Vista Street

10801080 views1212 comments77 favs

Nostalgia is when memories turn into Gods of knowing who you were.

universal placeholder

10791079 views1111 comments88 favs

ambiguity of lightning

Because the night

10791079 views00 comments00 favs

I glance back over my shoulder as you fumble with the keys. Repeatedly. You swear a little under your breath. You finally locate the proper one and the large door swings open. I hold it as you run over to the alarm keypad. You punch in the code written on a…

The words you are known by: To Mitt Romney on the eve of his national convention, a cento

10791079 views22 comments11 fav

I'll tell you what, Rick, ten-thousand bucks? [But] let Detroit go bankrupt. I'm running for office for Pete's sake,

Life of a Dead Bird

10791079 views11 comment11 fav

I have the idea but cannot find the words

Falling Rocks in Equal Doses

10791079 views66 comments55 favs

Not sure I remember what's important, but I remember you. That's the whole problem I think. You're a drain where all my words wind up going down. All of them get lost inside of you. Eventually. And I'm left with nothing to say. Because all my words are…

Valentine query

10791079 views11 comment11 fav

Did I flirt first?

Job Needed

10791079 views1010 comments66 favs

I have enjoyed three paid teaching days in Minnesota, since my return in 1996. All three paid days were fielded through S.A.S.E., all three at Patrick Henry. I loved it there. I hope never to become certified to teach.

Unguent

10791079 views22 comments22 favs

Spilled milk it is --lactate of common desire;water under the bridge, slow-moving, white. So this is what we feed on: the past and present here for the licking.Sweat is water too,for the hungry, and any past will do. Parched mouths kiss just as well as…

The Tote Bag Song

10791079 views33 comments22 favs

You can ask so many questions Of what’s it all about You can empty out the closets And roll the mothballs out But no one has the answers It’s all a mystery There’s a bigger picture But it’s really hard to see

Twilight Is Merely A Shade of Color

10791079 views22 comments11 fav

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

Quit Complaining, Willya!

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

"You think life is supposed to be easy? Whoever told you that? My life is anything but easy; still you don't hear me whining all over the place. And, trust me, I could teach you a thing or two about suffering.

GULLS, GULLS, GULLS

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

"The shipyards of the soul do not exist." The Colussus has always been a colossal waste, and the riddle of Your Father's Identity confounds no one but yourself. What a riddle, what pills! He was known for…

a confession

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

a pit-bull or a rottweiler or something like that

Under New Management

10781078 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…

Getting There

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

Her light blue eyes fixed on a point to our left, past one of the church steeples poking out of the flat, charred ground – like a toothpick protecting a birthday cake from its cellophane ceiling; an untouched bethesda keeping the never-blue sky from crash

de gustibus non disputandum

10781078 views33 comments00 favs

those darn kids

Things We Lost On Tuesday

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

REVELATIONS Bobby Coleman hated every part of his job — not just the usual things like meaningless deadlines, unrealistic work loads, and failed expectations; Coleman was done with all of it. Too many years at his nine to five had him convinced he was…

Another Crumb of Freedom

10781078 views44 comments44 favs

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

Thwart

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

Daily, at 3:47 PM, below his office window, a child in an orange windbreaker sits in the last car of the T, in the rear seat, face pressed against glass.

Flying the Potty-Mouthed Skies

10781078 views00 comments00 favs

People think being the best-selling author of the Pokey Little Bunny™ series of children’s books is nothing but cream-filled cupcakes, but they’re wrong.

Sneaker Waves

10771077 views33 comments22 favs

On the way inside, Peter stopped a moment on the deck and scanned the trees for the raven he and Lottie had seen at lunch. It wasn't there. Of course it wasn't there. He scanned the beach, the rocks and broken shells, the damp stinking rafts of seaweed with their rubbery…

Voices of the Dying

10771077 views2323 comments1212 favs

raging on road and page

Little Doggy

10771077 views00 comments00 favs

"A gush of sand- peppered wind from a passing semi-trailer hit my face rousing me from my mental comparisons."