Most read stories

Girl Four

22172217 views66 comments33 favs

She followed the husband. He headed north on seventy two for twelve miles, turned off at exit eighty seven b, slowed, turned, backed into a spot at a convenience store slash gas station, lights on, engine running. Precisely twenty seven minutes by her count,…

HOUSE OF GHOSTS

22172217 views1212 comments88 favs

The blue Victorian at 1145 White Street shifts in its foundation, creaks, and settles in for the night. The girls are bundled into their beds. My wife, too, has gone to sleep. I’m alone in the kitchen, steeping chamomile tea, coughing phlegm into the wr

Trader Joe's, on a Sunday

22162216 views1010 comments99 favs

When you think I'm not looking, I always am. You say it's like nicotine, your best analogy as a non-smoker. The kind of hit that is hard to live without and isn't it human nature, you ponder.

Doreen - II

22162216 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.

Mississippi Blues

22162216 views22 comments11 fav

“Jus’ because a story told right don’t make it true,” he said. “Sometimes the story is there ain’t no story. Sometimes you look way down inside, and ain’t nuthin’ there. Can’t write no book ‘bout nuthin’. Won’t sell none. But them

Little Yappy Dog

22162216 views88 comments44 favs

Should I believe you now? I said fuck you. I knew better but I said it. He kicked me some but I covered up, he didn’t get me bad as he thought. When he got tired, he took my doorkey off my ring. Said make me come back, and I’ll kill you. And he left.

What Is Life?

22162216 views00 comments00 favs

He heard her crying out behind the curtain that had been drawn around the bed. Each cry was more strained than the last. She complained about the burning, called the nurses "putane" and threatened to rip out the device they'd inserted into her. He sat t

The Fox in the Garden

22162216 views11 comment00 favs

It was 1635. During the time of the Tokugawa, not too many years before the British were expelled from Nippon, Minister Miyoshi no Kyoyuki of Edo decided to indulge in a practice he had heard rumored of the British.

1999, what I wanted

22152215 views99 comments55 favs

Last night in the shower, I felt only vaguely aware that something in me had changed.

Yes You Can--Buy My Book of Bad Poetry

22152215 views99 comments44 favs

America has given birth to many great poets--Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Muhammad Ali--but why should talented people have all the fun?

A Fate Worse than Death

22152215 views44 comments33 favs

The abandoned body got up and left the room. It was just in time to greet his wife and daughter, who were just coming in the front door.

Night Visitor

22152215 views22 comments11 fav

The tapping of hard soles moves slowly but forcefully away from the front door and toward the kitchen. Johnny looks at his dinosaur as if its spiked tail and plates of armor will protect him. Clip clop. Clip clop. The footsteps circle the kitchen. The bac

Life of the Writer

22152215 views1212 comments77 favs

I am a romantic writer, true. But what comes after the romance is what fascinates me. A lover dying is the most beautiful scene I want to write. The most beautiful scene I have yet to write.

Distractus Refractus Ontologicus: The Dissemination of Michael Martone

22142214 views55 comments22 favs

1 Michael Martone is Michael Martone. 1.1 Michael Martone begins, middles, and ends Michael Martone.

In the Waiting Room

22142214 views1313 comments1111 favs

She sits and waitsOn a chair that is hardWith a neck that hurtsAnd an eyeball that stings.She sitsSo stiffOn a chair that is hardWith a neck that hurtsAnd an eyeball that stings.She sitsAnd the hand on her lapHas a joint that cracksWith a neck that hurtsAnd an eyeball that…

Mountain Pose

22142214 views2323 comments1717 favs

Lying in the dewy grass in corpse pose, the stars of heaven above him, it was hard not to let worries take over his breath...

We Walk by Night

22142214 views1313 comments99 favs

Walking those damned dogs is a pain… a PAIN every night. If it’s not urban skunks, it’s Mormons on bikes… the bastards

The Beginning and End of Comedy

22142214 views66 comments11 fav

Puberty, for Ellen, was less than an overnight event—yes, she got her period in a more or less timely fashion, but what her doctor referred to coolly as secondary sexual characteristics—namely, boobs—took their damned sweet time in coming.

The Perfidy Peckers

22142214 views22 comments00 favs

She was a sad angry woman who lost her throat. She traveled to Uranus for help. “How can I get my throat back?” She asked Uranus. “Go home and plant my seed inside your garden” Uranus said. The woman did what she was told. The charcoal

The Heron

22142214 views1010 comments1010 favs

Bob’s thoughts drift back to bird, the solitary creature in the field, dignified, unhurried, waiting. Bob wonders where he goes; surely he will move on when spring gives way to summer.

Monsieur Editor and Madame Malaprop

22142214 views1010 comments33 favs

They slept in the same bed but that was all they had in common. He, an editor, had shelves filled with literary works and she, his wife of many years and never much of a reader, had strewn their penthouse apartment with Madeline children’s books.

Consolations of Quantum Mechanics

22142214 views2121 comments66 favs

The "Many Worlds" theory, applied.

The Invasion Of Iraq

22142214 views11 comment11 fav

The U.S. blasted into Iraq like gangbangers, baby! All that Shock and Awe shit... Zeep, excitement rekindled within him, hired three chippies, Foxy, Loxy, and Roxy, and partied! He managed between…

Unaswered E-mails Over a Cup of Coffee and a Microwaved Danish

22132213 views22 comments11 fav

Hi Zin, Really enjoyed seeing you again at Miranda Sinned. Looked like you enjoyed doing the St. Vitus. Don't ask me how but I got rum and coke on my panties. When I got home, I had a craving for tongue and my honey's talking squid, later, some fruit loops without milk. Q.…

When I Became a White Girl

22132213 views66 comments00 favs

“Actually, children, none of us will be having birthdays this year,” my father sighed. “Not even me? Why?” asked Charlie. "Son, this is what's known as a ‘one-party democracy."

Take our marriage and replace it with blue cheese dressing,

22132213 views1010 comments1111 favs

the brand we like best and buy whether it's on sale or not. Surely there is another blue cheese dressing that is sold, possibly in San Francisco and made in a Berkeley basement by hippies who scrape together all of their change twice a year and buy cheese from an ancient…

A Debt No Honest Man Can Pay

22132213 views1919 comments1414 favs

I'm sitting here listening to Nebraska and it's / breaking my heart

Shoelace

22132213 views11 comment00 favs

A shoelace should know its place in the world.

Make a Mistake with Me

22122212 views1515 comments55 favs

I work in finance. Yes, I have money. Yes, my apartment building has a doorman.

Flirting With Immortality

22122212 views11 comment00 favs

That stupid bastard seemed to defy death at every turn in his life. His actions suggested invincibility, but his catch phrase indicated full awareness that he was indeed quite vincible. And how fitting was his name. We didn’t know if it