Most read stories

Boring Boy

960960 views55 comments11 fav

Deslauriers taught that of the five derogatory items a girl could be—bitch, slut, tease, frigid, whore—tease was the worst. Having a German Shepherd at home protected Liz. My family had a cat, female and black.

Intervention

960960 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.

The Depth of the Dust

960960 views99 comments33 favs

Can anyone remember what the Great American dream was?

Reminders for Myself

960960 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

Still

959959 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…

otherwise, chaos!

959959 views00 comments00 favs

The tongue touches the lip, looking inward, remembering. The head nodding yes. Staring directly at the memory like an animal, while the crowds pass by, and occasional phrases materialize out of the air. We live and love and create. Yes we do. Otherwise,

cheap idol of possession

959959 views00 comments00 favs

And how the stars in your eyes exploited you. And the pollen-bearing moon shows its sex, and the years open their cards and splay them out on the table for all to see. And you come home from all the nipples of your Trojan Wars like Ulysses, and lie down

Hospital, or Depression III

959959 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…

Feb 4

959959 views22 comments22 favs

Walking with one giant dog and one tiny one, I didn’t feel at home, but I felt something better.

Ambient

958958 views00 comments00 favs

I try to make conversation by showing her the washing instructions for the jeans I just bought for $375.00. She reads slowly. “What, do they assume you live in Australia or something?”

Love, your daughter

958958 views1010 comments77 favs

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

Cocktail Hour

958958 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

Confessions of a Latter-Day Computerholic

958958 views1010 comments22 favs

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

Executing the Trade

958958 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.

rib envy

958958 views00 comments00 favs

Flowers I didn’t like God or else nature must have had some brief happiness over. But it’s just forgetfulness for an old goddess like me, goddess of the moon, of hunting, of chastity once, since now I have changed. My opened flowery bosom went on to bec

Goodbye, Me

957957 views55 comments55 favs

The racket of me left this morning

Everyone... out

957957 views22 comments11 fav

The room is cold, like an icy bath. Enough to make Earl's testicles shrivel up in fear. He could hear the angry children outside act out a primeval play, where it sounded like bones were being slammed into rocks with clumsy small hands. The edge of the table…

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

957957 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.

Luminous Nights, 3

956956 views33 comments11 fav

She also, wearing the requisite Hawaiian lei in this naked wedding photograph, but her low-swung breasts were hanging all the way down to her navel. Her navel itself appeared to be about as round and deep as a shot glass. There was this smear of gaudy flu

Now We're Getting Somewhere

956956 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.

"Happy Birthday Marty"

956956 views44 comments33 favs

The bum had abandoned More than half of his rich Chocolate cake In the bottom of the shopping cart The wording on the top of the cake read "Happy Birthday Doug" But it also read "From Doug" Either he was too full To eat his own words

The Idiot King

956956 views00 comments00 favs

I stayed by the idiot king in his box, never ranging far, never letting the box out of my sight.

Chasing Ghosts and Trespassing at the Chelsea

956956 views00 comments00 favs

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

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

956956 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

youre wrong // im right (curiosity)

956956 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!"

Her Stars

956956 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.

No More Ideas

956956 views22 comments11 fav

And then, one fateful day, the world ran out of ideas. The last one was gone, floating away like a balloon full of the helium we had already squandered.

Split Streams Displace the Final Helical Index

956956 views11 comment00 favs

Split streams displace a spliced and shattered walkman with no connection of its dead batteries, projected into Styrofoam and plastic mirrors before hitting the brook water. Michael finds way, out of breath, eclipsed by an elm, his eyes visible with pupil

Dreams

955955 views1111 comments1010 favs

"Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is…

Stone Soup

955955 views88 comments66 favs

When I asked her about her husband, she laughed.