Most read stories

Real Estate

23102310 views4141 comments1111 favs

He drove down there in his truck the second time. Didn't want to get anywhere near that snooty car of hers.

A Body Divided, 2

23102310 views33 comments00 favs

I came down with polio on September 15, 1953, a mild, smoky day drawing close to autumn outside of Chicago — which also happened to be the exact date of my parents' twenty-first wedding anniversary. Only six months later the Salk vaccine was already b

The Duende

23092309 views1515 comments77 favs

Now he took his guitar in hand, and at once he felt a strange fiery sensation rise from the soles of his feet, to the palms of his hands, to the tips of his fingers: the Duende. It was that mystical force poets can sense, and no philosopher can explain.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

23092309 views11 comment11 fav

We do not say to the fish, “How do you pronounce your name?” For its name is long and colorful, like the rainbow. We can pound the kalo plant into sweetened poi before it answers.

Death Pays a Visit But Fucks Up

23082308 views55 comments66 favs

We get prepped for the big finale, and we don't want the guy who turns up with the scythe to be Jo-Jo the dog-faced boy.

Behind the (Beekeeper's) Veil

23082308 views00 comments00 favs

While I tried to work calmly, internally it was a non-Zen zone. I was experiencing a major adrenalin rush.

Digging a Hole to the China Sea

23072307 views2323 comments1313 favs

Could sampans fall upward, sailing from the bottom of the Earth? If so, which way would their sails bend—up, or down? And would the strange China Sea follow suit? Would salt water geysers spurt from the hole we dug, flooding the streets of Seattle?

Working Without a Net

23072307 views00 comments00 favs

The next day, John's kneecaps looked like Tennessee Pride Real Country Sausage. The bandage on his head kept coming loose, having to be tucked in, and he was suffering the Stone Mountain of hangovers.

The Laughing Buddha

23072307 views44 comments33 favs

I. When I was young, my best friend was only three inches high. He was chubby, always cheerful, and very funny. He didn't start out as anything much. I always imagined he came into being in a small factory, in China, at the mercy of two small, yellow hands and a …

Po-cash

23072307 views1515 comments77 favs

“Black is up, red is down,” I said, knowing he turned to pleasant memories of lawbreaking when he felt discouraged. I asked him to meet me for coffee. He said he hadn’t bought a coffee in a year.

The Experience

23062306 views33 comments22 favs

I decided this time I’m going right to the end.

Arcana Magi Memorial Vol.6 - c.5

23062306 views33 comments11 fav

Polo could sense the tension with his group. He was unsure what the creatures would do to them.

Frankie's Girl

23062306 views22 comments00 favs

Frankie's girl had a habit of making any guy she walked past turn his head and lose his entire train of thought-we all knew it. Frankie was the only one who asked her out to have lasted long enough and worked hard enough to the point of putting a ring on

Hotel Khadijah

23052305 views2727 comments1616 favs

"A prostitute of the Hotel Khadijah in Rahab fell in love with my father...."

The Big Cross

23042304 views22 comments11 fav

I hope you and asshole are having a good time.

An Italian Lunch (II)

23042304 views4141 comments1212 favs

Within seconds, I strip her free of all that she wears. Her toes are polished the color of plump pink tulips.

By 4th Grade at St. Paul’s Elementary, No One Believes in the Spanking-Machine-in-the-Closet of Sister Alice Elenita’s Office

23032303 views99 comments99 favs

Arthur farts. Pandemonium. Miss O'Kelly shouts, “Quiet!” 32 nine year-olds freeze. “Close your books, fold your hands on your desk, put your heads down.” Obedience. Silence. Until…

Bitter Orange

23032303 views00 comments00 favs

A poison bouquet of Merlot and brown floor muck bloomed in Seth’s nose. It’s one thing to sniff a freshly decanted red and another thing to shower in it.

All Will Be Well

23032303 views1818 comments99 favs

Jesus will walk on the water. Judas will walk on a technicality.

Resurrection

23032303 views44 comments33 favs

Rudely awakened, confused and bewildered, he stood stone silent and watched me flee. I barely managed to keep my wits together, didn't and couldn't pretend that I wasn't running out of his bedroom as if my life depended on it. He wouldn't call me a cab,

Smoke

23032303 views77 comments00 favs

We both lost our appetites, her sense of taste destroyed by the tide of smoke sweeping across her tongue, wiping out her taste buds. Mine was limited to the four tastes the tongue alone could discern,

Fake Letters

23022302 views2323 comments1313 favs

Dear Husband,

This Is What Happens to the World in 10 Seconds

23012301 views1616 comments1313 favs

1. Everyone disappears.2. Stars map themselves.3. The moon fills her bathtub over and over. You can't watch it for too long or you go mad, shouting, "Just get in, get in!"4. The ghosts of certain broken poets stand under apple trees and lean their hands on the…

Realizing I Have Not Moved From My Bed for Two Days

23012301 views99 comments99 favs

Quite frankly you are ruining my life. / I know you don’t mean to, but you are.

Command Voice

23012301 views1818 comments1212 favs

Go to your room. Children are meant to be seen not heard.

The Death of Tarzan

23012301 views1414 comments88 favs

Martín stood over the slow, labored panting as if it were a mystery he could not explain. The dog lay on the frayed pillow bed, a knot of fur and skin, in his father’s office. One eye, like an almond floating in milk, stared up at the boy.

Valley Rugstore

23012301 views1414 comments33 favs

He hunched low and forward on his bike, his 14-year old self, flying down the dusty back roads of this Great Midwestern Land, his head full of the smell of the algebraic girl he sat behind in math class just hours ago.

Already Dead

23012301 views1313 comments55 favs

It was already dead and was hanging from her ceiling.

For Carol: Life Bursts Out

23002300 views1515 comments1010 favs

Life was small. It was tiny even, so tiny it was hard to see it sometimes. Life curled up to make itself even smaller, to fit into the kinds of holes that insects crawl into to get away from bigger insects. Life was sad. Life didn't want to be an insect.

And We're Catching The Bus

22992299 views1010 comments88 favs

On the bus Jenna looked out the window at the bleak fuckscape.