Most read stories

Illumination,with grace

973973 views11 comment00 favs

Jerry peered out into the dark landscape with no fear left.

youre wrong // im right (curiosity)

973973 views11 comment00 favs

"Stop it! Don't fucking touch me! I fucking hate you! I'll call the cops! I'll never forgive you for this!"

Hospital, or Depression III

973973 views88 comments55 favs

Yes sir, I confess there have been timeswhen I did not care how young the earth isor take pride in how she sprang back to greenregardless of how hard the snow fought.There have been times, yes, when I lacked the willto notice such things and knew that belowthe water's…

Reminders for Myself

973973 views33 comments33 favs

Forgive the earth that’s got a hold on you. Forgive the trees. Forgive yourself, you were damaged goods. Therefore, quit looking for the expected. Look instead at the unknown as a fact. Describe it. Use great detail. And

The Reunion

973973 views22 comments22 favs

A small flame of gossip began at one end of the table and began to spread like a wildfire at the first mention of Diane Morgan’s name. “That little red-faced slut stole my boyfriend from me,” I overheard Maryann Blakely saying. “I could have been Prom Que

give me a real moment with a living god and I'll go all the way

973973 views00 comments00 favs

I remember, when I was selling real estate, how you could always tell when there'd been a divorce. One room was conspicuously left emptied of its contents, and these rooms were never swept or tidied. Instead they were left just as they were when the par

Where Do You Get Your Poetic Inspiration?

972972 views00 comments00 favs

The only magazine Auden subscribed to was Scientific American, a publication I had previously scorned as the trade journal of pre-med students and Nobel Prize winners.

Stone Soup

972972 views88 comments66 favs

When I asked her about her husband, she laughed.

I heard you were a drinker

972972 views44 comments00 favs

Once we got to my house, Lynda had everything drinkable in the house open and in everybody's hands before I knew it. She tossed down a bottle of my father's beer, then started on a bottle of whiskey that was open. She took a straight mouthful and offe

No More Little Bridget

972972 views88 comments99 favs

I spend my time sitting on the back step—poison oak reddening my arm—under the eaves, waiting to escape.

Pharaoh ... Pharaoh

972972 views00 comments00 favs

I woke up on my back with my face in the sunlight and thought, I guess this must be heaven, it was so bright out. Except for the buzzing of the insects. They will always bring you back to earth.

Executing the Trade

971971 views66 comments55 favs

Prospero's in his cell and I'm in mine. He drowns his books, I'm drowning in mine. He exercises his power–I'm powerless to exercise.

Intervention

971971 views00 comments00 favs

I got a call from Fiona last night. She asked that I come down this evening, to meet at Penny's place. "It's an Intervention, Al," she said, which told me everything I needed to know about what the meeting would be about.

Burn

971971 views99 comments77 favs

No one believed me when I told them this: I took all of my novels and tossed them into the fire.

Music

971971 views11 comment00 favs

At work I listen to musicrecorded from live performances.People cheer in the music and I can hear their smilesthey are excited. I smile with themand I imagine they are happyfor me.I see them beyond my grey office walls I imagine they are my friends and…

Still

970970 views33 comments00 favs

I wanted only to be still, to become a rustle for a moment of papery fall leaves sighing past one another on their way to the funeral pyre in the front lawn, sweetly fragrant with the scent of death and inevitable decline, fearless in their annihilation, incandescent…

“Kait” the homo sapien

970970 views33 comments33 favs

I am an animal on display in an old fashioned zoo - trapped & violent, violent, violent

Love, your daughter

970970 views1010 comments77 favs

You gave me all of the power, and none of the power.

The Depth of the Dust

970970 views99 comments33 favs

Can anyone remember what the Great American dream was?

Never Sacrifice Yourself

970970 views33 comments22 favs

No matter how many times flies land on butter they will never become butterflies

Confessions of a Latter-Day Computerholic

969969 views1010 comments22 favs

Boy, it is weird out there, talking to real people!

You'll Miss Your Destiny If You Are Shy

969969 views22 comments11 fav

Okay, you want the truth? I was never that good with strange. It takes me awhile to warm up. And I’ve got to be attracted, somehow. Like with your eyes.

Out Walked Bud: The Manic Life and Obscure Death of Bud Powell

969969 views22 comments11 fav

From the opening bars that conjure up the sounds of European auto horns, "Parisian Thoroughfare" is as light as French pastry, as free and airy as a skirt blown by the wind.

Chasing Ghosts and Trespassing at the Chelsea

969969 views00 comments00 favs

I went to NY to look for homeless ghosts and delirious minds...

Her Stars

969969 views55 comments22 favs

She wondered why people would spend hard-earned money on a television when they could look up at the sky for free and trace the images that had inspired poets.

Driving the High Roads

968968 views44 comments22 favs

Here in this land of cannabis...

Cocktail Hour

968968 views44 comments00 favs

The bullet went past his right ear and a little star appeared, twinkling in the mirror, a small hole in its middle, before the boom of the shot filled up the bar. He put his straight up Grey Goose martini down on the bar hard enough so th

Now We're Getting Somewhere

968968 views33 comments33 favs

Woman bites into pearl, finds baby oyster. Woman bites baby oyster, finds baby pearl. Woman blows on baby pearl, it begins to grow. Woman gets excited. Now we’re getting somewhere, she says.

It's Stupid, Stupid, What Will Become Of Us

968968 views00 comments00 favs

Whoa! Whoa! This just in! You mean we were minutes away from some kind of immanent Greek tragedy!!? Let me get this straight. I cheated one time on Jolene with Jolene’s baby-sitter (you!), whom she used to cheat on her husband (with me)? I guess I’m luc

Gun Love

968968 views66 comments55 favs

That was the year I got my Daisy bee-bee gun for Christmas....