Most read stories

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.

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,

A Return to Silence

10791079 views00 comments00 favs

Instead we dunked the men in vats of grease and boiling water. Instead we tore apart the books from which they emerged. Instead we found the graves of their mothers and detonated bombs.

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…

Drinking the Wild Virgin

10791079 views44 comments33 favs

I really think we ought to be drinking The Wild Virgin again I remember having a beer once And feeling like a minor god, yes Just like you did So, now, listen to me: if she snores all night That’s one thing But if she screws the lights out

Five Million Yen: Chapter 44

10791079 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.

Valentine query

10791079 views11 comment11 fav

Did I flirt first?

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…

universal placeholder

10781078 views1111 comments88 favs

ambiguity of lightning

Because the night

10781078 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…

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

Job Needed

10781078 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.

Le Petit Clown - August 9, 2002

10771077 views00 comments00 favs

Bald on top and wavy curls projecting from both sides. He looked at me and his eyes rolled round and round in opposite directions. He asked, "What did you think of the play, clown hater?"

the swan gliding before death

10771077 views22 comments00 favs

When you awaken on the other side, you will see, I was like the swan gliding before death, and the animating power of her is willing and unavoidable. And you are itching, feeling an inextinguishable sexual desire, its nightmare ink burnt in your head, n

A Day In The Life

10771077 views44 comments11 fav

I stood at a workbench for eight hours a day, scraping various shapes and bits of metal fresh from the machinist’s press, plotting my escape.

de gustibus non disputandum

10771077 views33 comments00 favs

those darn kids

Jack and Jane

10771077 views00 comments00 favs

I wonder if the Pleiadians are out there. Jack, what are you talking about? said Jane. The Pleiadians. I said I wondered if they were out there. You did go to special school, didn't you? No, said Jack, I didn't. I don't know why you always tell people that. …

Lineage

10771077 views11 comment11 fav

the arc of her invective presumably aimed at the little boy and girl ambling halfway down the block behind her

Things We Lost On Tuesday

10771077 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…

Mike's Confession in the Basement to Being Allergic to Balls

10771077 views22 comments22 favs

He arched an eyebrow.  He was "thinking" — a tricky thing to do, when you never read, even the newspaper.

Thwart

10771077 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.

Unguent

10771077 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…

Bucket

10771077 views22 comments00 favs

There was a bucket of shit . . .

Flying the Potty-Mouthed Skies

10771077 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.