Most read stories

Jon Bon Joviettes: A Love Letter to the Bistro

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"Oh, sit on my face oh won't you? Your velvety wetness would provide a nice counterpoint to the upholstery of the sofa-matching easy chair, crummy but that's the charm of this hipster-ironic dive playing 80's crap so I have to cram your music in my…

After the Shark

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each to his / secret dream of the thing

Ripple Effect

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I discovered Ripple (by that fine winemaker Gallo) in a dusty “specials” bin at the back of a liquor store near skid row, off Maxwell Street, downtown Chicago. You may remember me bringing these bottles home with their screw-off caps. We drank tons

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

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“What the hell was that? Is that your take on The Deer Hunter?”

on Fox River

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We are on Fox River and I am in the dark water swimming naked beside Rick DeMille with my white skin glowing as we come up behind you and Sharon in your dad’s ski boat sitting silent in the water, and I can hear Sharon whimpering, “Oh, Jesus! Jesus!” as

The Collector Of Twilights

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I like to collect twilights. I fold them carefully and put them in my wallet. They fit neatly between the dollar bills that have a weird tendency to curl. This bugs me. I don't know why they do that. Something to do with the design of the wallet. But the twilights fit…

Dateline: Dumbass

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Take a ride past Larry Crane’s 'Jackpot!' recording studio — right here! in the neighborhood! where Sleater-Kinney recorded 'One Beat' and Elliott Smith 'either/or' and Sarah Dougher 'The Walls Ablaze!' woo hoo! — and the kids are singing karaoke.

Grand

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The garden grew tomatoes.

Acknowledgements

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I sit in a café and watch the near palms of summer swaying against the far ridge of hills and young girls walking along in their sleeveless summer dresses. Their shoulders speaking their long history of sex and future children,

obituary unsolicited

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po-mo parchments piled high deep: / credentials earnest transcripts earned / coursework scholarships helpt buy.

Reunion

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Did we ever walk together long?We walked apart much longer. Are we the same, unsaid, Or more different than you imagined? Are you amazed I still stand, Here and in this room, So brazen to show my lined, scarred face, So bold to live and speak aloud? Can you…

Chicken Sexers Set to Go For Gold in London

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Green Ridge, Missouri features a horseshoe pit on the town square and not one but two full-time village idiots.

I Can’t Wait To Develop Patience, But

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And they let the angels out at twilight, the dark twins of bats, and their troubled undersides. Never were the bats so disturbed. Never until now has true evil been so see-through, and clear.

Saturday's Heart

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day dreams, at last! Timetables colliding, time tables alarm clocks Sunday stew

Blurbmonger

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Rick is short, red-haired and looks like his head has been plopped directly onto his torso. Francine is six foot two, likes guys her height and prefers some of their height to consist of neck.

Berkeley Stations

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or Hamlet,Great Denmark"No good can come out of this house of Berkeley, not ever, not to strut the great book of the world, or for any other discreet purpose." - the Upanishads "What is guile? Who is this Hamlet? Where smarts wounded Denmark? I need…

Pharmaceutical Funnies

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Dracula enters the pharmacy looking sad but hopeful. The pharmacist pulls a sonnet out of his thumb and hands it to him. This is a novel by Bugs Bunny. Each page is a…

Notes from a Quarantine

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EnzymesI enjoy learning about enzymes. In the human body, they're catalysts. They interfere, breaking substances down so they may be sent on their way to accomplish a task. Imagine a cluster of construction workers; shit-talking, cat-calling dames, engaging in mildly (or…

no more than a scent

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Art evades me persistently.Tonight is no exception.Outside, the bitter wind blows:suddenly, an oddity comes to minda memory, a glance. A mid summer nightheavy and taintedunder the neon lights.A foolish smile invites me income through the threshold of sinshe appears to…

Panel

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Nearby a figure wearing a long coat has just walked into the water.

Dylan to Return to Roots for Golden Years

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When informed that the returning celebrity is not Gary Puckett but Bob Dylan, the world-renowned singer-songwriter, Sklarski draws a blank. “Never heard of him,” he says as he takes off in his pick-up truck.

Long Walks On the Beach: Song

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I don’t like long walks on the beach Or sand between my toes Jellyfish stinging my butt Saltwater up my nose I don’t like long lingering glances But I sure like fancy pantses And yes, a bum without a bottle Is like a car without a throttl

"Red Beret" Excerpt

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I crossed the river Styx. I had two coins for my eyes. When I arrived on the other side I saw Johnny Depp, Neil Young and Jim Morrison.

A Journal of the Plague Year: Day 237: A pandemic miscellany

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Wheel turning, round and round again

Hauntings

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What shall stain the page with metaphorical wisdom? Words fell short of intention, displaying only a faux interpretation of ultimate meaning. They drifted in and out, and he struggled to coerce their conformity to…

Still Pretty

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I saw this woman on a date at Denny’s Friday night With her 8-year-old son No ring, vacant stare Still pretty But wolfing down A stack of pancakes, Looking around the restaurant Occasionally At a party of kids From some church Wh

Bearded Lamb

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I was bleeding from the soul It took its toll I fell all the way down in a hole I saw some burning coal I didn’t know where the hell I was Or what went wrong As I sang some unholy song Where I did not belong There was a frozen carcas

Medicine Man

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The scalpel isprescient -- it knows blood before it cuts.Every surgeon is a seer.We start here, just below the neck. The slide of its sharpened silvertouches softly,enters the skin with care; halfthe cut is question,and half an…

Breath and Shadow

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I do not like it when the dead look back at me.

But the Sun Also Sets

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I’ve lost interest in the limelight since I’ve come to understand that I’m not meant to be in it. We walk past the Porker Palace and see crowds of the rich with piles of pig in their hands, stacks of pork piled up on their plates as they swirl amo