Most read stories

Washing

10371037 views1212 comments88 favs

Scraping the baked on Bar B Q sauce from the grabbing ends of the stainless steel tongs has my total attention.

On Strike in the City

10371037 views11 comment11 fav

The first day of the Steamfitters and Pipewranglers Local 175 strike was exhilarating. Every man (accurate; there were no women in the union) showed his support outside the Willgarden High Rise Corporation's company headquarters on Fifth Avenue, shaking unreadable signs…

in the bad dreams of bums under the freeway overpass

10371037 views22 comments11 fav

In the bad dreams of bums living under the freeway overpass dwells the laughing gas of their previous lives the humorous opium operas of unsatisfactory whore-wars and the open sores of ether-filled balloons in the bad dreams of bums under

Five Million Yen: Chapter 62

10371037 views22 comments00 favs

She was wearing a robe, but her hip movement sent an ancient message.

ScarCity

10371037 views55 comments44 favs

I flipped a large cardboard coin On one side it said Abundance But on the other side it said Scarcity I went to the store And began packing everything I could get Into my shopping cart But the things that started spilling over Onto the

Wilbur

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

This girl who looks about ten years old and her Pomeranian puppy are staring at my left arm and my right hand keeps filling out the form and I know I shouldn't but I say what she's been begging me to for the last half hour: It wasn't Wilbur. It was a woman. A girl,…

The Short but Fulfilled Life of a Dream

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

It kind of reminded him of a giant, real life game and not virtual reality. He was weaving in and out of cars so fast that you might have thought he was knitting or something.

Sack

10361036 views22 comments00 favs

He cut a hole in the sack

The Empty Stool

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

I walked up to the bar and sat down on the empty stool.“You don't want to sit there,” said the bartender.“Oh? Why not?” I replied.“It's haunted.”I laughed, but then stopped when I saw he was not laughing with me.“You're…

Abundance

10361036 views33 comments22 favs

A young woman in shorts removes her sunglasses, putting them on top of her head in order to study the little girl sitting on her father’s lap on the bus. “I want to get me one of those,” she says, with her dark eyes smiling.

The Mad Ones

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

On the parking lot of the bar, two in the afternoonYou notice the battered car, dented up body of a Ford escort,No hubcaps, plastic in two of windows,It yells a story to youA familiar storyHead into the bar2 O' clock in the afternoonIt's a nice, sunny, warm Saturday…

headaches not worth having

10361036 views33 comments00 favs

this is one of those "there are two kinds of people" sort of things.

Cha

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

The windows aren't open because they are closed for winter, but Cha doesn't care. She stares through them while I stare at her.

People Get Haircuts

10361036 views22 comments22 favs

like they are trying to not get noticed by fickle death. It clearly marks them in a targeted way. Very ironic. Here's the only message I want you to ever have from me : quick, scramble like a monkey with a stolen banana in your tiny hairy…

For Colleen McCullough

10361036 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…

Sinning and Sinning and Sinning

10361036 views33 comments11 fav

Then I learned she was revealing all our sexcapades to this young priest. Forgive me, father, I have sinned. We had sex outdoors against a tree in Wisconsin and the tree was blending with our act and becoming one with my back rubbing up against the bark

Vegan Says "Kill"

10361036 views00 comments00 favs

....sucking my blood kind of draws the line.

Amble

10361036 views11 comment22 favs

I sulk across the room to feed you,hold your hand, tell you everything will be fine. It is the right time of night,the light from the street falls onto the chairat the perfect angle. I look at you, gray, shimmering, persnickety. Don't move, thisis just the dust, helping me…

For You, For Me

10351035 views2222 comments55 favs

...mark every buoy...

Stationcity Drums

10351035 views11 comment11 fav

Deep in Stationcity they began to drum.

Feast

10351035 views00 comments11 fav

His long black lashes stir, flutter a wink. His eyes catch yours through the dark reflection of your face, illuminated from beneath by wavering candlelight. Reflection obscures his features; they become yours.

Brother Dream

10351035 views44 comments44 favs

It’s always daylight there My brother comes running down the sidewalk holding out his arms and calling my name He’s wearing suspenders. He’s gotten thinner in heaven He embraces me warmly wanting us to be friends I give up trying to resist

Arrivals and Departures

10351035 views1111 comments1010 favs

Because of her I got there early, and like I figured, the train was late.

The Incredible Distance Between Sleeping and Waking

10351035 views11 comment00 favs

She has almost-black eyes and auburn hair and round brown nipples that are always taut – as though in anticipation. I don’t know what color auburn is. I just know that’s the word that comes to mind when I look at her hair. She calls herself Mama Legb

observations on an autumn day

10351035 views1111 comments66 favs

macho bucks in velvet defy you driving down the lane

Bottles of Happiness

10351035 views00 comments00 favs

She sold bottles of happiness at the marketplace. She woke up at dawn every morning to capture rays of happiness in the air. She would jump and let her fingers thread through each ray before sorting them into bottles. She always added a red ribbon to the tops of each…

One Star

10351035 views22 comments11 fav

...somehow that light has found me.

Slammer

10351035 views33 comments22 favs

“Please, please grant me probation and a deferred sentence with no time behind these walls. I have never had a driving ticket before. NOW one Margarita and a DUI. Never again!”

Fall From Grace

10351035 views00 comments00 favs

My usual angel fell from the ceiling and onto the couch.

Cockroaches From Heaven

10351035 views55 comments33 favs

Cockroaches may be falling through the holes in the floorboards of heaven, but we will not be disturbed. We are agents, free and clear, even if a little bit mean. I want to quit worrying about money, but the angels upstairs won’t let me. The