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The Man from OBERIU

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Elizaveta still wore her winning smile, the one that only charmed. She looked up suddenly: “Watch out, Pushkin! (falls over Gogol) “Watch out, Gogol!” (falls over Pushkin).

Bob Dylan, Republican Party Animal

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That’s right–Bob Dylan, ne Robert Allen Zimmerman–will be riding shotgun with me as we head north to fight the good fight against the Democratic Party’s war on women.

Jesus Wept

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When my husband died, I was in bed with his brother. Ricky and I had been married six years, three months and two days when his little brother, Ben, and I gave in to the lust that just would not go away in spite of our prayers and tears.

I Am Not a Corpse

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A corpse cannot cry.

Sea of Tranquility

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We weren't sleeping much, either one of us. We went through the ritual, Pat and I. I brushed and flossed and got into bed and read while Pat took her contacts out and applied a…

Godot is a Heartbreaking Figment

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Godot is on the way.

The Fermi Panic

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Schrödinger's Cat twitched and nodded as he picked up the discards, casting his mind back to 2014, when local confidence seemed at its peak . . .

Sex Dungeon for Sale!

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Calm down, I wouldn’t classify this as a sex dungeon.

Whiplash Marriage

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I had a dream the daylight needed / repainting.

THE LOVE DIET

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On the first day of my diet, I only cheated once. But I sort of made up for it by taking the stairs at work and parking far away from the entrance to J.C. Penney. I went to the mall to look at the sexy outfits I would buy as soon as I could get rid of

Journey to Malta, from the novel "Grok"

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The journey to Malta would take almost four days. Both men, with knapsacks and sleeping bags on their backs, stepped eagerly onto the train in Zürich. A whistle blew and they were off. In his knapsack, Grok had brought pictures of his family

How Dinner With John Updike Ruined My Teaching Career

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Christmas Eve, 1989, I had dinner with John Updike.

The Weight of Water

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Water and its damages followed Bianca. Every time she looked up. Everywhere she looked up. Up up up up. Water stains, in darkening whorls, curling across the drywall or fiberglass panels, filling them with rot and mold.

MY Last Lecture: Achieving MY Childhood Dreams

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The following is an excerpt of my commencement speech at The Hamlin Refrigeration Vocational Institute. Although I am NOT terminally ill, in all honesty, I haven’t been feeling all that great since, I would say, around April…

The Death of Your Brother

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Suddenly a downpour erupted again, just like it did earlier in the morning. Clouds came out of nowhere, and it became a deluge. It felt like things including our tiny trailer were going to start floating around the nudist camp. Gina held back the little c

Potato Mash

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Foxes haunted her dreams. Islands full of foxes, truckloads of vixen.

To The Woman Who Sat With Her Back To The Door

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Such a curious smell in the air tonight: part skunk, part fire, part rubber of your tire, pulled liquid hot across that road.

The Cake for God

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is all but invisible. Some say this is because it is within a bakery window, a bakery within a bakery window,and thus appears to be everywhere at once.The cake for God has never been eaten, except by children who seem to later forget what it tasted…

Celluloid

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Mina stumbled and fell headlong into her apartment, smacking her knees and palms on the hardwood floor.

Librarians! Are You A Book Whisperer, A Truth Wizard, Or an Information Goddess?

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I'm not a librarian. I'm an Information Goddess.

The Way You Live Now

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You make a mental note of the rising number of people that know you. You vow to trim the list.

Story for Ned's Edit

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Two nights before his heart burst its strings near sundown Shabbat, we met at my house to wait for paint to dry. We could make an evening of that.

Odds Are

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We're on a bench in the park under some trees close to the carousel when she tells me I can't count on having a career as a professional gambler.

La insistencia de Jürgen Fauth

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¿Qué habrá sucedido durante la invisible noche que se abre tras el sueño, esa Narnia en porciones individuales, para que el día se haya bestido, y con urgencia, de ira?Como si tubiera las manos bañadas en resina, intento limpiarme los ojos a zarpazos del filtro que…

Three Mississippi Fictions

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When I was sixteen, my dad’s new wife and her daughter, Mary Ann, moved in, so I had to get out. I found a burned-out one story place on Corey Road near the gas plant. When it wasn’t raining, you could see right up through the roof to the stars.

Salmon of Wisdom (novel excerpt, Jimmy Gollihue)

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Honey, you eat this salmon, now

sex at antioch

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the definition of beauty is easy

Adagio

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... must we turn again (and again)/ to an orchestra stripped of wind and drum?

Daddy Walked the Pits

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Seems like the tar just got hold of Daddy somehow. What is it about asphalt and a man?

Mutant

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The fallout came tangled with snow. We thought the sea would protect us. But it came from New Mexico greasy with Plumbbob’s vaporized pigs.