Most read stories

The Brother

23132313 views99 comments55 favs

I guess it’s extremely difficult to be a decent human being in all aspects of your life.

Buster Keaton

23122312 views1414 comments99 favs

I passed Buster Keaton on the way to work this morning. He was standing, hands in pockets, at the corner of Riverview and Keil. It was the young Buster, handsome and still strong enough to pin down the scars that marked his childhood. This was the Buster

I will be a child again

23122312 views88 comments77 favs

A child in a new world/ by way of the old I won’t remember.

Ode to a Crow

23122312 views77 comments33 favs

We walk in silence. We water our plants. We don’t eat as well as we should. We try to love. We try to forget.

And Furthermore

23112311 views2323 comments88 favs

clickety-clack, not.

Caffeine-Fueled Revelation Machines

23112311 views55 comments33 favs

So she leans over the patio table like that model in that magazine ad and then takes a sip of her blended coffee drink as if a director had said to pretend the straw is a penis. As if this director only just shouted, “And you're a dirty, dirty girl, and

The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl (Excerpt)

23102310 views88 comments44 favs

“Can I?” Lily asked. I gave her a nod. She tore at the package with greedy fingers. As the paper fell away to reveal yet another self-help volume, Lily cocked her head in a gesture of confusion and curiosity. Following her gaze to the lipstick-red

do you ever read writing?

23102310 views00 comments11 fav

“Do you ever read writingand wish that it was about you?That you caused the epic fucking swell of emotions?That you were the only one capable of the rescue? Do you ever read writingand feel it so intensely?Like every word is an angry and desperate misfiring…

Never Been Down to Lonely Street

23102310 views1111 comments55 favs

“This is not turning out to be a wholesome project,” my brother hissed into the phone one night. “Yo, Alan, it’s ELVIS. It’s American gothic, and the child needs to know the underbelly of the myth,” I hissed back.“Did you, or did you not, wear makeup to

Cinderella's Lament

23102310 views1111 comments44 favs

My name is Wanda McClure and I lived in the foothills of Eastern Kentucky. A small town miles off the interchange, and mostly in the middle of nowhere. I lived in a trailer. I was 52 years old.

Snake Eyes

23102310 views1111 comments99 favs

Traveling with a live chicken on a city bus is an experience I hope never to repeat.

The Deepest Cut

23092309 views77 comments33 favs

Smoke is pouring outta my ears! (And outta my mouth and nostrils, but that's normal.) The Fast-o-matic Supermart has changed their coupons. Now you can't swap them for plastic surgery. So all those tubes of New Orleans-style Cottil-i-Lard dog sausage…

I Must Slip The Batman a Fin

23092309 views2626 comments1717 favs

The Batman says it's his birthday. I take him at his word.

Birthday Boy

23092309 views00 comments1212 favs

"I called him a fucking loser and left."

Rocky Mountain Oysters

23092309 views88 comments22 favs

“They’re Rocky Mountain Oysters,” the blond said. “Fresh. You’ll absolutely love them Jim.”

Postcard

23092309 views2020 comments1313 favs

A tiny story, 55 words, just enough to fit on a . . .

Yalta Pas de Deux

23092309 views2222 comments1010 favs

The Count was used to boredom but he had reached the point where he was even bored with boredom.

Better than Chocolate

23082308 views77 comments44 favs

Teddy laughs like a machine gun. People back away when they hear him. Every time I see him at work, I try to make his skinny body rattle. I would never back away.

Throwing Pencils

23082308 views1414 comments1010 favs

I can never tell if he’s drunk or using some sort of substance or if perhaps his brain just doesn’t fire at the pace that we have come to accept as normal.

The Duck, the Clock, and the Condom

23082308 views99 comments77 favs

Every night famous authors read not only to us, but to a duck. A wild female who emerged from the lake just as we were gathering, settled her gray-brown feathers down not three feet from the podium, tucked her head inside her wing, and remained there. If the duck liked…

Lips that Touch Liquor: The French 75

23082308 views00 comments00 favs

The French 751 1/2 ounces of cognac1 ounce of lemon juice1 teaspoon of sugar6 ounces of champagne For the rest of that night, everything Mickey looked at appeared to have a halo of music, something nearly visible that he could almost …

A Life of My Own

23072307 views2222 comments99 favs

You don't make money worrying about other people's feelings. I learned that from my father at an early age. He managed rental properties, which I, his daughter, now own. He wanted a son, so I became one.

kroy hearts destiny

23072307 views1212 comments1212 favs

r luv iz gud enuf 4 a tat2

Fly the Friendly Skies

23072307 views88 comments88 favs

Lucky bastard, he gets Glamour Puss and I get lady wrestler who's giving off the vibe she'll bludgeon me to death with her Bible if I make one false move.

They're cutting the catalpa tree (Catalpa speciosa) in Essen, Germany

23072307 views3838 comments2020 favs

They cut the tall specious tree storms snapped the night in two or three. At times they pause most piously to count each ring of truth, drive nails into the stiff cathartic spine, divine if this unseasoned cigar topiary agrees with its own everlasting te

Fifi Climbs To the Top!

23072307 views44 comments44 favs

Fifi is one piece of work, from the Ann Coulter Tits-And-Ass Rattlesnake School Of Broadcasting Venom And Bullshit Like Goebbels...

Granny's Reform School Weekend Intensive Workshop, Session One

23072307 views55 comments66 favs

Being a grandparent is most joyous when deliberately subversive.

Stand Up

23062306 views1919 comments33 favs

"And you’ll forgive my sayin’, your Maggie’s in heat, and if ya want to keep her you’re gonna ‘ave to fight. To be sure after this they’ll leave ya alone.”

Breathing

23062306 views33 comments11 fav

It was the end of a New York City summer, the heat and humidity thick all around. But in her body it was an unforgiving winter, the memory of pain always leaving her cold

The Intervention

23062306 views1919 comments1515 favs

"You're publishing too much too / quickly. We think that's unhealthy. We want you / to slow down. You're becoming a fame whore."