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From Day One

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On the first night I met you, you fell in love with the waitress. She had a loud voice and a strong Irish accent. She wore an oversized t-shirt to minimize her large breasts, and baggy jeans. No makeup; crooked teeth. But you…

The Starfish and The Pin Joint

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The two boys walked the long dock to the edge of bay,like scrappy lobsters pointing toward the waves,"The cockroaches of the sea,"his father said,It was the old country"Only prisoners were fed lobster.They stayed in the dampholes."He thought the sea ebbed and flowed like a…

Surprise!

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We were fleeing Hurricane Katrina We stopped somewhere in Texas at a roadside diner But found a sign that said it was closed All of a sudden as we sat there in our car The shop’s owner knocked on the window And asked what he could get for us

Dead Uncle

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When Roy had seen the first of the movies in his dorm's weekend double feature that night (the University of Maine at Orono — as Stephen king once quipped, “that crossword-puzzle favorite”) …

Topsy Was a Flip Flopper

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Topsy was a flip flopper ... Topsy was a crazy complainer.

You Would Not Find Me

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and I saw this man mopping a floor. He did not look like a monk, and he was smiling at something I could not see. You would not find me and I was beautiful. You would not find me and you closed that memory. I thought that was unfair and maybe it…

Vivian Considers Vivian

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She's been considering her breasts more now.

Winter-Logged Love-Fest

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it is a wonder that we are speakingyou and iafter the fall season felt hopeful.Now the words mean nothingmy fairy has taken a vacationand women sleep with men in nice suits.

I'm So Glad

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The boy had decided he needed to sell his music equipment—the p.a. system, his amp, his compact organ. His band had broken up and wasn’t going to get back together. He was leaving town at the end of the summer, to where exactly he didn’t know yet.

Mr. Barefoot & Rev. Broad

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Cold hurts at first, but you wake up.

Swan Dance

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The house stood quietly in its surrounds. Unnerved by the beauty that enveloped it. Green forest trees loomed round the house protecting it from the outside world and in front of it lay a sweeping lake that disappeared into the trees on…

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 56

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Airports are always a casino, said Oriana

2-100-Words

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The woman who lives on the first floor once loved dancing naked for her lovers.

Frostproof Suite: Clown Car

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My job was take the falls, act the dope, finish at the wrong end of the slap stick for the blow off. I was Auguste, the fool; I drove the clown car.

Time

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The sky was painfully blue that day. So bright, so cheerful that attempting to look at it, to probe its depths would cause one's eyes to tear up. There was not a cloud in sight, just miles and miles of blue as far as the eye…

Rent

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My real parents lived about 200 miles in the other direction from where we came. But long ago I determined they were too real.

Agrarian Joys of Ornamental Lawns

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The leaves/ that clung through February/ fall, dung brown,

I am very few of the things I used to be

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Focusing on reflections of clear lines on scummed glass, reflexes not quite as fast as they used to be, seeing things but not clearly, straining, these muscles worn out servos, grunting, can't quite bring things together, but why do this to yourself. More pointless than…

Imaginary Friend

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"Where've you been?" the image in the mirror asked. "I haven't seen you since yesterday," she said. "Yeah, I miss you too," he said.

the absolute pearl of existence

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I see it now. This is like the blind flash of the mind going off inside, where memory begins to make up its own stories. And the women are often drawn, painted, sung about, while the men are not, so often. What is it about us that they cannot resist loo

Twentieth Century Chats, in Six Acts

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M. CALLAGHAN: I’ve got a lot on my mind. You’re drunk, aren’t you? COL. MORD: Good idea! DEATH: Well, there is no shame in that. J. KIDDING: Everyone suffers. Can you lend me your cat? T. BURKULAR: I don’t know, sir. I don’t follow political issues .

Transmitter/Receiver

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Valerie had purchased a new cell phone in late 2007, and, say a few months afterwards, in the beginning of 2008 a demon briefly took up residence in it. She had just returned home from running a few errands, and set her phone down on her desk. She had been focusing on…

Second Steps

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The train station offers a pleasant atmosphere, though it exists as an in between place. People only come here to go somewhere else.

The Last Thing

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The last thing I remember is falling below the water, lungs filling with liquid.

This Was Called War at One Time

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The woman broke the law with that scream. I would say that there was pleasure in it, for her. I would also estimate that ten or fifteen men saw it, ten or fifteen men plus me.

Abundance

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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.

Selfie

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a few numbers/ and a handful of their operations,

Oh Captain, Good Captain: Part IV

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Oh Captain, Good Captain I went where you asked of me But now I'm back home And things are so clear to me The liquors been drained So my eyes have dried finally I'm seeking her out So her voice can stop haunting me When I see his face I'll…

Beside the Swing Set

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Julie had a thousand freckles the color of mud.

Stuff & Nonsense

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artifacts gone obsolete / miscegenating in suspension