Most read stories

Without A Trace

21702170 views33 comments11 fav

There, at that cabin, she had first tasted the back of a hand in anger, the sting of a horsewhip, bone-deep fear and, finally, an unthinkable act of self defense.

Before and After

21702170 views3535 comments1616 favs

My heart beat someone up the stairwell.

Velcro Shoes, a Cardboard Computer, and Other Signs of Brilliance

21702170 views66 comments33 favs

It wasn't until later that I realized that any time a teacher complimented you on your use of imagination, it was because they didn't know what else to make of whatever you'd created. My homemade narrative video in lieu of the assigned “getting to know y

The Making of Mermaids

21702170 views77 comments55 favs

You ran so quickly for a while no one could find you. Finally, you sent us a report. You had retreated to the sea, you had your legs stitched together, you became a mermaid and were applying to join the school.

Finger Weaving A Voyageur Sash

21702170 views1616 comments1212 favs

Night's air awhirl, the sky shoots fireflies. Sometimes, she bleeds black arrows in her dreams.

chicken little considers the sky again (a parable for our time)

21692169 views1111 comments99 favs

oh, sure i’m still running around like a heads-up/off/prophet/profit/fit trying to cut off my very own de/(con)instruction and all other sordid a•void•able & available /a-Babel-Trumpish towers of post & toastmodern doom/daze/haze

A Necessary Evil

21692169 views2323 comments55 favs

But it was a necessary evil and one he’d made peace with, easy to do when he arrived home each day to the comforting touch of his wife, his home.

The Five Stages of Editing

21692169 views11 comment00 favs

The recent release of my debut novel alt.punk was extraordinarily exciting; however, maturing the novel from first draft to publication was not without editing pains. Similar to the Kübler-Ross theory, I progressed through what I refer to as the “five sta

Science Homework

21692169 views22 comments22 favs

The difficulty of disabled parenting was predictable, but nothing could prepare me for having to say goodbye to my wife again on problem #7.

A Letter to the Global Warming

21682168 views44 comments00 favs

I am mightily pissed. I was, like, waiting for you last night, at the Greenhouse cafe, and you stood me up. I should have listened to my mom who always advised me not to go on blind dates, but you are so popular that I just couldn't help myself. When I ca

Passing Past

21682168 views1414 comments1414 favs

No one means to go that way, on an errand to the mall....

The Paprika Ewer

21682168 views55 comments44 favs

Valeria never whistled. Nor did she approve of people who did. One thing she had learned in her sixty-seven years was that people who whistled were crass. Butchers whistled. So did peasants.

Almighty Pink Slip

21672167 views1717 comments1111 favs

I fired God today. He wasn't showing up for work, slept through meetings, wrote ambiguous memos and killed too many innocents. Things just weren't working out.

I Wrote a Book

21672167 views44 comments22 favs

About halfway through reading some book that was supposed to be some really deep shit, I decided to write my own book instead.

Secrets

21662166 views1919 comments88 favs

The one he liked best was a middle aged woman who didn't wear underwear. She had a terrific figure.

George

21662166 views2222 comments1818 favs

he makes his way back / to the ocean, back to the popcorn, back / to the pinball machines

I’m tired of being timid.

21652165 views1111 comments77 favs

“Later,” I say to the frisky crickets, verbal cash of the eggnog spa, spot of gum…

No, You Don’t Know What I am Thinking

21652165 views99 comments55 favs

Scratch his eyes out, flashed through Edgar's head, scratch his eyes out.

i am so fucking unsold

21652165 views55 comments44 favs

i am wire i am wiredi am soaking fucking tiredi am sorry i am coldi am so fucking unsoldi am endlessi am statici am past lost time fanatici am wounded i am seethingi am bothered angry leaving.i am metal i am wateri am sister fucking daughteri am nothing i am lazyi am…

Check

21642164 views66 comments44 favs

When Quince came rolling up into my front yard that morning, we were up to our neck in August, staring down a seventh-grade year that had crept perilously close when we weren’t looking. I’m thirty-five years clear of it now, and I can still sense Texas on

Wild Dreams of Reality, 4

21642164 views00 comments00 favs

It was days before Parker and I could even get up the nerve to look in each others' direction at the cafe. We kept trying to avoid the other's glance. But after a time things began to soften between us. I could sense it the day the tension began to eas

Saving Grace

21642164 views00 comments00 favs

It essentially comes down to this: If you have nothing left but paper, all you can really use it for is wiping your behind if you’re in a jam.

1987, What I wanted

21642164 views1212 comments55 favs

I wanted to watch, for as long as I could, until my innocence, like balloons, disappeared from view.

The Birds (2)

21632163 views1010 comments77 favs

The birds were stacked up in the branches of a pine tree behind the feeder. Several were sitting on the fence. “They’re massing,” she said.

They Don't Call! They Don't Write! But at Least they Have a Dog Blog

21632163 views44 comments44 favs

“I spent the best years of my life raising you, and now that you've grown, I never hear from you.” Sound familiar? That's the “Mom's Lament.” Mothers have been kvetching at their grown-up kids like this since the beginning of…

The Sad Giraffe Demographic

21632163 views99 comments11 fav

...there’s one thing we’ve found, an untapped demographic.

11:11AM Eastern Standard Time:

21632163 views44 comments11 fav

"Make a wish," she whispered.

Sleep With The Fishes

21632163 views22 comments11 fav

Pull her from the water and check her pockets. Shouldn’t death tattoo a message on each palm it removes the pulse from.

The Shop Girl

21632163 views1414 comments1010 favs

Just a little shop girl in for the summer. Working on a typewriter. Barely knowing where the keys were. That was her. She was terrible at it. He was in a suit. He looked short, and thin, but something about him was captivating. He was in his own way hands

Your Pajamas

21632163 views88 comments55 favs

Your pajamas torture us. When moist they uncomfortably cling. They have evil buttons, and they cause us to stumble on them in the dark.