2277 1 1
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You are fishing in a coffee cup. (Your fishing pole is a record player.)
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22772117
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There is a tall and leafy tree in our backyard. Also a bride, a groom, and a chicken.
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227795
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You are lonely. Let me tell you about the smell of the rain.
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22762514
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And you know that notion just goes to show...
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2275103
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Several friends—hers and his—hung around the edges of their marriage, and it would be naive to rule out the possibility of a few stray affairs. The thought didn’t anger him; on the contrary it amused him as if it were some trivia question, the answe
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227575
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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
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22751410
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. . . and the last thing you’ll smell will be new-cut pine.
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227545
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All night the moon had watched him, and he’d been unable to return its stare. Finally there was sunlight, and Joško took up his rifle and rucksack. He had trouble keeping his balance at first, but gradually his legs steadied.
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227542
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You like your life. Ducks march in a row. You've reached a certain age but you're strong. Healthy. You've got food, clothing, shelter. You have insurance and important papers. You don't have a man in your life, and you admit— Admit nothing. The…
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227500
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The stupid suit made me look like an angel, which I hated. I wasn't here to save anyone's soul, not that any of the native animal life HAD a soul. If I have a soul myself, it is most likely in need of salvation, and in no way should I be cast in the rol
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22742019
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if we stare into the dark long
enough, we see ourselves at some end or
beginning –
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227463
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I slide my hand under the sheets. It’s cool there. An impression. This is where she would be.
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227421
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In the blue of the yard the twins boil and scrape,
twisting about beneath the sycamore tree.
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227463
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She...learned the ways of men, especially foreign men, who eyed her mother even as they passed around pictures of their children, wallet-bound photographs that included their reluctantly smiling wives.
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227367
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The doorbell rang while Ron was masturbating.He closed his eyes tight. Tried to hold the image of Lori bent over the arm of the couch. No use. It was gone. Ron sighed, then levered the recliner down. Tied on the terry-cloth robe Lori had given him. He kicked aside an empty…
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227342
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“Can you do something about that those four stanzas of three lines each at the bottom of the basement steps?” my wife asked.
"That's a villanelle I'm working on."
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227353
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“I take him to see all those sexy movies,” she said, “because it puts the passion back in him. I love what he does to me when we get back home after those movies.”
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227320
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I was afraid of needles and ponds of water and I was transfixed by both.
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227371
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It was a sloppy little factory town that could be beautiful, but never bothered trying. Sits on a big lake. More bars than churches, and too many of both. Racist. We hated anybody who didn’t believe in white Jesus
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2272118
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You’re the girl that would sneak out to poetry readings instead of parties, watching fierce semi-bearded men reading their poems from hand-stapled zines.
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227200
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One of the runners was collecting bags of dead animals to bring back to the van. Nicholas looked inside one of the bags, but all he saw was a stringy mess of fur and tissue.
The runner grabbed the bag from Nicholas. He shrugged and said "hammers.
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22721512
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This is the best kind of crime scene.
Spattered like gore from gunshots,
I'm left covered in trace evidence.
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227211
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Let's be honest. Ugly people have an uphill battle in this culture. From the time they slide out of their ugly mothers they stand at the plate with two strikes.
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227231
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Dear Mom, You told me the connection between a mother and her son is like no other connection. You carried me for nine months. You scheduled visits with the doctor; you thought and discussed and re-thought and re-discussed with dad what my name would be; you…
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227211
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2272175
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I turn my head. Time starts running.
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227166
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The light, oblique and waning, filters through butcher’s paper to reveal a body suspended in death but never decomposing.
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22711614
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ornery women / in tall hats, suspender dads, kids deformed with / ribbons
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227120
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Berto had come to live with me a month earlier. He’d been cursed by being the favored child of our parents. Their indulgence resulted in a 40 year old man and heroin addict from age 17 and all that accompanies such an existence such as thievery, larcen
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227185
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You may gather from me
the spring of my youth
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