Most read stories

Something About Ireland (from FATHER MUST)

20172017 views44 comments33 favs

That’s the way it went all day with me—didn’t get far, didn’t see much, just, with Mary, drank tea here and there. A fine day it was, too; not cloudy, not raining...

The Sitzer

20162016 views2323 comments99 favs

Fred, who by that point had already wanted to call Jimmy "Jim," talked a river. Jimmy, who had already called her Freddy, took a mojo bag from his back pants pocket and asked her to write something that he could put inside.

First Person

20162016 views1010 comments1111 favs

We're each other's inside out. (100 words)

Why Aren’t There Fireflies

20162016 views2020 comments77 favs

There are hundreds of fireflies crackling along the tree line and the old stonewall.

Nothing in the World (an excerpt)

20162016 views44 comments55 favs

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.

Crisis Junkie

20162016 views1515 comments99 favs

  A lot of people are like this--they thrive on On conflict   My bartender is that way-she likes the Confrontation She wants to fight and argue and haggle And I never related to this In anyone Well, people are scared, or pretend to be Scared at the bar. Some…

The Untimely Death of the Old Forgotten Man

20152015 views44 comments22 favs

I watched haunted as my pearl tooth circled the rotten porcelain sink. I could feel my hair thinning and my pale skin suddenly felt too loose.

The Bottle

20152015 views88 comments55 favs

That bottle just sits there in the closet, next to the hats and a box full of old gloves. Years it’s been there. Try as we might, we never open it. We just don’t have a damn thing to celebrate. Who was it brought that bottle into our lives and went and ruined …

Novel Excerpt - Full Chapter of Jimmy!

20152015 views22 comments11 fav

Jimmy Gollihue awoke to the howling of a bloodhound ...

Regret

20152015 views1717 comments66 favs

Every time I read a great line by another writer, I feel fear.

The Grief Counselor

20152015 views22 comments00 favs

At first she kept repeating "I don’t know why he's doing this" as if the cops thought she was mixed up in it somehow. When they convinced her that all she needed to do was talk to her brother and tell him to give himself up, she looked hopeless.

Ditching the Universe for Katy

20142014 views88 comments22 favs

I am running for only one thing now. For Katy.

Doreen - II

20142014 views2323 comments55 favs

I had the distinct feeling she was telepathic. As that thought crossed my mind, she smiled broadly and returned my quizzical stare. It caught me off guard, wasn't what I expected.

Stories from the War

20142014 views11 comment11 fav

He didn’t know how to tell his story. It wasn’t an easy story to tell. There certainly was a clear beginning, but it didn’t make much sense to start at the beginning. There was no way to end the story either; the ending seemed to last forever.

No More Dogs

20142014 views2121 comments1616 favs

Highway 45N cost me four dogs when I was growing up. Actually, having our backyard abut the highway was the real problem. It got to be where I was afraid to get too attached. We lost Nicky,…

My Boogie Man

20142014 views99 comments55 favs

We'd both done well to avoid crying before today and I couldn't stand to see him like this. I crawled on my hands and knees to the closet. “David, come out of there. I…I don't like this any more than you do. But you can't come to college with me.

Confess another sin

20132013 views1616 comments1313 favs

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Undone

20132013 views2424 comments2222 favs

Last summer our marriage took a direct hit and crashed into a deep pit with little warning when Millicent met a Facebook man and simply left, taking up with him, presenting him with my space in her life to receive her touch and this thought perpetually gnaws away, making me…

Zurich, 1989

20132013 views1010 comments55 favs

I do not yet really understand the power I seem to have at this moment. And I am certainly too young to recognize that it will end up being weakness, too.

Carmen (from The New Yorker+ a Jimmy Breslin "afterword" from Newsday)

20132013 views00 comments00 favs

Every trip her mother leaves it until then: Shouldn’t she look for an apartment in a better area; shouldn’t she try for a job with some future? “And, you know, someday you could get married, Carmen.”

Amends '82: Part One

20132013 views00 comments00 favs

The kitchen I snuck out of seventeen years before kept fading to black and white, with this layer of something between me and them.

Eating Grief at Bickford’s

20132013 views77 comments66 favs

Eating Grief at Bickford's · From Allen Ginsberg's “Kaddish” There are no places anymore Where I can sit at a threadbare table Pick at the crumbs on my plate And wipe The white dust From my pitch …

The Intervention

20132013 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."

The Parachutist In Love

20132013 views88 comments33 favs

The Parachutist closes his eyes, takes a breath, and then opens them back up again. The earth is very beautiful, and very small from where he is. It is getting larger quickly, which is vaguely alarming.

The Illusionist

20122012 views1414 comments77 favs

All week my crew and I waited for the snuff party. An obscure fete where someone gets killed strictly for the entertainment and viewing pleasure of others. Before you judge us know this, people die every day for no reason at all.

The Strongman Used To Weep

20122012 views1616 comments99 favs

The Strongman used to weep alone in hissingle dusty tent at night, all of uscould hear him, sobbing, thinking about theone incredible time in his mostlymiserable life he accidentallybrushed his thick arm…

14-B

20122012 views55 comments22 favs

It was a forgettable face, to be sure. Neither ugly nor beautiful, she looked like any one of a million American women. She could have been headed anywhere, but at that moment, she wanted to go to 14-B.

"You Go"

20122012 views44 comments22 favs

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…

A Certain Boy

20122012 views66 comments66 favs

Every single girl, from junior to senior (and a few counselors too, I suspected), wanted to make out with Marty Miller. Did he know how drunk with attraction I was?

Lizard Back

20122012 views55 comments66 favs

The lizard is like wearing wings on my back, makes me fly like a dragon in my dreams, which I have all day long, while looking at you, talking to you, right now, having dreams in some part of my head. I'd like to stick out my tongue and lick the part of m