Most read stories

too pissy for poetry

21582158 views99 comments99 favs

feeling obligated to write/ is like feeling/ obligated to fuck.

BLACKHORSE

21582158 views88 comments44 favs

All the neighborhood kids waited for the school bus on a small cement slab at the bottom of the first big hill on Blackhorse Road. My mother made me scrambled egg sandwiches on wheat toast every morning for breakfast before I left for school. Then one mor

Regret

21582158 views11 comment11 fav

Pushing his jeans down around his ankles, he knelt, and pressed his moist dipstick against my hole. “Do you always do this on a first date?” he said

A mostly true story about the TI-83

21572157 views11 comment00 favs

And the only time the TI-83 sees the light of day is when I'm rectifying my debit card purchases at such places as Kmart, Office Depot, Walmart, and Office Max, to make sure everything comes out even and good and perfect, a skill never learned in Trysics,

Arcana Magi Cross - c.1

21572157 views00 comments00 favs

Ai picked up the ball and noticed the feathers. Wings unfurled and the head looked up. Staring deep into the bird’s eyes, Ai could have sworn she saw flames.

Nature Poem

21572157 views44 comments44 favs

Blueberries are like testicles: you have to hold them gently, from underneath.

Blue Jeans and Black Leather

21572157 views44 comments22 favs

I lock the last of the beer and wine doors and head back to the cash register. Our clocks are not on bar time so I only have a few minutes. I check the till. A stack of ones and three fives. Enough to break a twenty, but looking bare. The parking lot's empty. The air…

The Piss-Colored Man

21562156 views77 comments55 favs

His open door was interpreted by the neighbor as an invitation to all but place a mirror under his nose. She demanded opportunities to fluff his pillows and coerced him into accepting gifts of food, more than he could possibly eat, and sometimes ate with

Throwing Pencils

21562156 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.

Wild Strawberries of Mars

21562156 views2424 comments2424 favs

might leave NYC or Earth

I Confess to God in the Shower

21562156 views99 comments55 favs

During fifth grade, I was called / closeted queer and tall faggot.

The Lovers

21552155 views1414 comments77 favs

I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY TO YOU, she lisps, and, with this, the fissure in the man’s head reaches the bottom of his chin and the hollow head splits in two.

Postcard

21552155 views2020 comments1313 favs

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

On Tundergarth Farm

21542154 views44 comments11 fav

There’s an oak tree in Hanover, New Hampshire. Twenty years old, it is still a sapling. I imagine that one day the tree will have a commanding view of the Connecticut River and Norwich, Vermont, where my mom sat in bed, crying, watching everything unfol

The Saurians' Revenge

21542154 views55 comments11 fav

I’ve never liked birds. There’s something smug about the way they look at us, we prisoners of gravity, something self-congratulatory in their songs. Maybe I’m just projecting my own feelings about being stuck on the ground, attributing attitudes t

Emoji Problems

21532153 views66 comments55 favs

Our problems started with a few back and forth texts of emojis late one night. The next evening, a Friday, typically my poker night with the guys, my girlfriend came to the door.“You brought over pizza, how nice,” I said. “And, oh, gosh, look at that, a…

The Philosophers' Problems

21532153 views66 comments44 favs

The day the thinking factory imploded everyone for miles knew there was a problem. The sound of the walls crumbling in upon themselves was heard for miles, or perhaps it wasn't.

Cinderella's Lament

21532153 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.

I'd Be Happy To Date You When Hell Freezes Over -- One Single Librarian's Collection Of Online Dating Profile Turnoffs

21522152 views1111 comments99 favs

Dude -- I DON'T want to date your boat!

Lancelot Meets Goya Meets Cortázar Meets Mowat

21522152 views2121 comments99 favs

to say that he was doing fine

Stand Up

21512151 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.”

Animal Park (Part II)

21512151 views00 comments00 favs

“Why have you not voted Mindeo”, Tidi squeaked. “Because there is a third way. If we stay only here, we will eventually be driven out. To attack the erect worms to extend our…

We Used To Be Sharks

21512151 views2525 comments1313 favs

I was sitting on the therapist’s couch in someone else’s boxer shorts.

Decrucifixion

21512151 views11 comment00 favs

"Isn't it time to remove the nails, and put Jesus to rest once and for all," Mary asks.

Behind the (Beekeeper's) Veil

21512151 views00 comments00 favs

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

The several stages of grief

21512151 views22 comments00 favs

Robert was not in any sort of metaphysical or spiritual sense seeing himself, as in the scales falling from his eyes and seeing himself as he was. He was a long way from that kind of insight. He was literally seeing another himself.

An Argonaut Ethos

21512151 views77 comments33 favs

My daddy made all these gold records on the walls, died, and left me to run BadSmack Media, even if I could only manage to run it aground.

compass/ion

21512151 views1414 comments77 favs

a question that (never) left

Buster Keaton

21502150 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

Crown-of-thorns

21502150 views2020 comments44 favs

It's supposed to resemble the sea bed. These fish have never seen the outside of an aquarium and even if they had, they are reef fish, they'd probably get the bends and die if they went to the bottom of the ocean where the chances of them finding a cerami