Most read stories

what time is it really is it?

803803 views88 comments77 favs

. . . the roar of fire speaks lasting heat . . . .

The Demon Rum

803803 views55 comments11 fav

the Coke made his butt leak blood

How The West Was Won

803803 views11 comment11 fav

I looked through the window of my shop here in Laredo and saw him standing there with his six-shooters drawn as I sized him up from his head to his toes. A ten-gallon, weathered black hat sat atop his head and a worn pock-marked and sun-bleached, denim shirt criss-crossed…

Of Poems About Figs and Farts

803803 views00 comments00 favs

When Prince Rainier III asked an expert whether there was a literature of Monaco, her research produced only a suggestive ode to a fig and a poem about a fart.

4 Scars

803803 views00 comments00 favs

Within 3 seconds the replicant Abraham Lincoln now knew everything there was to know in this world. The errant input function had created a memory leak that lead into the network. First local systems, local networks, to city, state, government, then world

anura

803803 views1212 comments77 favs

still to early to dodge leaping bodies on misty roads at night

Facing Budget Cuts, Schools Hire Samurai Crossing Guards

802802 views00 comments00 favs

“Out-of-work samurai have a choice,” says Bobby Ito. “They can terrorize local peasants at county fairs, or underbid low-skilled workers for menial jobs.”

Luminous Nights, 7

802802 views00 comments00 favs

Robbie took me out to Fox River on his father's ski boat one day, as he often did — but this time it was my eighteenth birthday. That was when he opened up his robe and showed me all there was to show of himself, begging me to make love to him, saying h

CONFESSIONS OF A TWISTED GENIUS

802802 views11 comment11 fav

Surely someone as clever as I can hatch a plan that will make them pay for rejecting me. Ignoring my genius has a cost and they will pay the price.

New Flavor

802802 views33 comments22 favs

Billy fell into a bottle, and we couldn't get him out.

My Girl

802802 views00 comments00 favs

I like you,But I don'tLove youAnd that bitchDon't love youEitherWhy don't you loveMe?I only love my sonWhat do you hate About me?I hate your nervousnessLack of confidence,I hate your glasses,U asked too many QuestionsReally?Yeah, reallyWhat do like about me?I like…

Showdown at the Okay Corral

802802 views00 comments00 favs

I hauled out my Norton Anthology and threw caution to the wind.

How Bruce Became a Lover of Key Lime Pie

802802 views33 comments11 fav

He consumed the key lime pie, while wearing a lime-green sports bra.

When the Sky Was Blue

802802 views11 comment00 favs

Michael shifted impatiently as his mom steadied the gyrocycle above the parking space. A rather blank, empty smile came over her face, and Michael understood. The Proctors were everywhere and where they weren’t, there was always a Neighbor who would be h

Breakfast in Prague on 9/11

802802 views44 comments44 favs

I was sitting in Prague having breakfast on 9/11 near the Astronomical Clock while the world was bombing ISIS the sons of ex-Nazis sitting at a table nearby and old apparatchiks leisurely eating sausages while the world took a moment to

Round Dance

802802 views66 comments44 favs

Cold smoke from the crater Breathes on our eyelashes; The abysmal emptiness held Its breath just once.

Message in a Bottle

802802 views22 comments11 fav

She eventually learned everyone had their own truth, and some of them were not true at all.

For Colleen McCullough

802802 views22 comments11 fav

She was reading The Thorn Birds. Always on her side, in a pink cotton housecoat. The Buddha rested on his side. And drank milk. We drank plenty of milk, but, being Catholic, didn't know anything about Buddha. I would sit there. Piles of books were around. I…

Memories of the Beach

802802 views99 comments11 fav

The smell of Coppertone Suntan Lotion always brings back memories of the beach. I remember you rubbing it on my stomach and you kept moving lower and lower. I had on a bikini bottom (very daring) and you rubbed your finger all along the rim of it just a

Heroes

802802 views00 comments00 favs

no one told him there was a place where heroes died, but he should have known it was in love

The After

802802 views55 comments44 favs

I watched her look at mewithout any eyes.She turned her head as wesat on the edge of the bed.Instead of eyesthere were hollow indentations of soft tissue,bulbs, and closed,tissue sown, pinched togetherwith pulls and zigzagslike crosshatching, where…

WE SHOULDN'T HAVE BOUGHT THE FIREWORKS

802802 views22 comments22 favs

My chin is half-eaten. My chest is gone. There is a rhythm to how each flame licks me. Like how you used to in the mornings before work. Before the coffee. Before the toaster. Before a rose clenched between your teeth and dancing.

Women Meeting new Men

801801 views11 comment00 favs

WOMEN MEETING NEW MEN up suddenly from a new fire we each rose up suddenly columns of smoke wrapping around one another parts of us touching and matching fitting and twisting tightly becoming one over this poem…

Three New Poems

801801 views55 comments55 favs

"A man's soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper."--Charles BukowskiBone We built a secret road and rolled it into a crumpled ball and pushed it deep into an empty wine bottleAnd dropped it into the laughing ocean for much,…

New Year's Resolution

801801 views22 comments00 favs

“Hey, come on and sit down,” Jake motioned to her. It was three in the morning and after way too many gins the last thing Melisa wanted to do on New Year’s Eve was to chat with her ex-boyfriend. In fact if she had known he was goin

The Weight of Need

801801 views22 comments11 fav

In need of help, he bought his first self-help book at the age of twenty-nine.

you weren't this way

801801 views00 comments00 favs

i was in the fields, i was moss, was sticking my head in the columbine

The Last Last Ride

801801 views44 comments11 fav

You’d stay on this small roller coaster ride all summer long if you could and if I were a rich man, I would let you. Is it fun riding around in circles? You’re only nine; of course it’s fun.

The Calendar of Minutes

801801 views11 comment11 fav

He was prepared for this event.

Crack

801801 views55 comments00 favs

It's the kind of neighborhood where the bar above the hot dog stand functions as a drug warehouse. Lowest prices, biggest selection, friendliest — highest — associates. I live here, a block over in the midst of sushi joints and frat boys, but I live…