Most read stories

An Ugly Man

41124112 views2121 comments1818 favs

On her lunch break, she dumps Luis for Daniel Towens, the ugliest man in the county.

Flower-Gathering

41034103 views88 comments55 favs

I did not understand its meaning until college when I learned that Frost would take long walks—the inspiration for so many of his poems—and would leave his wife at home while he did. And just before he left, she would guilt-trip him just a little by walk

God Bless You, Mr. Rinsewater

40914091 views1919 comments88 favs

Once upon a time, on March 8, 2011, to be exact, there was a flash fiction writer named Rinsewater who had a novel idea – flash fiction writers whose stories were published by indie lit magazines must be paid for their work!

You're Gay? I'm Not Surprised. But Thanks For Telling Me!

40874087 views1010 comments66 favs

When I was young, my mother told me that J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual. I don't remember exactly when or why she shared this tidbit with me. This was, after all, fifty years ago. But Mom wasn't a homophobe, so I'm guessing that what intrigued her about Hoover's…

Pleiku Jacket

40854085 views6262 comments5353 favs

Our flag-draped coffins float to the surface of an uncharted sea and we appear together—patriots both—on the cover of Life Magazine.

3 Short Shorts

40844084 views8080 comments3636 favs

When he tried to kiss her, she ran to the bathroom to throw up.

Nothing

40804080 views77 comments66 favs

Nobody goes over there cause that’s where the body was found. A little one. Half in and half out the water, waded up like paper.

Charlemagne

40784078 views1616 comments1717 favs

We descended directly from Charlemagne

Almonds

40774077 views2121 comments2121 favs

"... you shake your head and look down as if I am a mongrel dog who has pissed the Tabriz..."

Lady GaGa Fucked Me Accidentally

40724072 views11 comment22 favs

She stroked the piano softly with one hand and I shivered. Maybe it was the keys singing or the way her eyes were closed forcing her to feel her way to right spot or the sex in her voice. Maybe it was just in my head.

The Boy Who Knew Death

40704070 views2323 comments1010 favs

As the sun rose each morning, so did the lonely old man with it; a sad limping figure strolling across the front lawn with a cigar tucked in his mouth, lighting fresh candles here and there, perhaps on an imagined grave of some loved one long lost to the infirmity of time…

Decorum

40704070 views3232 comments2222 favs

So, have your whiskey like a good son.

Brother

40664066 views2525 comments1515 favs

My brother was the catcher, and we were having sex. I was waiting to be scared. In our act, he would swing upside down from the bar, hanging by his knees, his arms extended, and I would fly into his chalky grip.

Hitler's Mustache

40664066 views33 comments22 favs

“Where do you want your mustache?” Melanie asked. “You can have it on the side, you know, or, if you prefer, across your labia, in which case it will also look like a cross?”

To See the World in a Grain of Sand

40594059 views44 comments33 favs

What’s it like, sex? I ask her. You see that picture? she asks, nodding to the large canvas covered with a film of dust propped up against her bedroom wall. That picture’s the only thing she never sold. She hocked it a few times but always got the

Why Can’t God Send Us Some New Kind of Animal?

40554055 views99 comments99 favs

I guess the ultimate, penultimate failure would be to write a love poem that turned on everybody but you.

Agent 3

40534053 views11 comment11 fav

i beat myself back into the littlon fish door, the algae sealing strip connecting as it does. Eons ago, i fell, and andy and i met with hands of crab and lobster in an eleborate room benaeth here, but I know very well, i am not him

Garden of Allah

40514051 views55 comments77 favs

(after Joan Didion) (after Charles Dickens)The car is guttering and at first I do not hear him clearly. The antenna is broken and the wipers are loud. he comes in better when I'm off the freeway. “We must forget about material things.” …

Temporary Passport

40384038 views4040 comments3737 favs

It is late in the twentieth century and I'm on my hands and knees for you.

Unpacking Sentences

40274027 views5555 comments2626 favs

This is what I do for a living: I unpack sentences.

My Most Humble Request

40234023 views1414 comments66 favs

Do not shake the baby. Shake the martini. That’s what martinis are for.

In the Hamptons

40214021 views2525 comments1010 favs

Class differences in New York (and if you believe F. Scott Fitzgerald, in America, generally) are best viewed from the beach.

The Cobbler and the King

40194019 views00 comments00 favs

“Mortal,” it said, and its voice made the cobbler’s soul tremble. “Why do you disturb our peace? It is late, and you should be abed.”

MoonEarth Collision: A Disaster Story

40154015 views22 comments11 fav

“My fellow Americans,” says his boss, leader of the free world. “The orbit of the moon has been disturbed. No longer revolving around the earth, the moon now hurtles toward the earth. Impact is expected within days.

Fabric

40124012 views1414 comments88 favs

My father failed in business in the 1950's when Dutch Elm Disease killed the elm trees in our Kansas town. He owned a fabric store on a brick street lined on both sides by elms, the doomed trees that transformed every Midwestern town into a magical kingdom and sidewalks and…

Four Death Poems, Written in Blood

39903990 views99 comments33 favs

The warrior would prepare for death by writing a death poem. Sometimes the samurai would begin the ritual and write his poem in blood.

Bonnie the Baptized

39833983 views33 comments22 favs

Also, our daughter had learned to splash, causing us each time to break into spontaneous renditions of “Splish Splash (I Was Taking a Bath),” which made us not mind so much that we were getting covered in water.

Sit In Here

39833983 views8585 comments4343 favs

"You," he says, "Sit in here."

The Devil's Bedpost

39703970 views00 comments00 favs

A cellphone vibrates ineffectually against unfeeling skin. One last rivulet of blood slowly oozes down the wall as it dries. The rest of the room is still.

Why I write

39693969 views1919 comments55 favs

I sprawl, I spill and I splutter