Most read stories

Worst Case Scenario

21492149 views1111 comments66 favs

The voices he hears are God and the Devil and he knows the difference. Therefore, he is not mentally ill.

When the Ocean Was Ours

21492149 views88 comments66 favs

The Ocean used to be ours. When the stars were still fire and they were the only light burning though the dim, hazy nights, the ocean was ours. Before the smog, and the lights that were carried by the men who rose from the sea, the ocean was ours. We…

Old Vibrations

21492149 views2323 comments2020 favs

There's always a sound, something triggering the fear.

Veins Of Crazy Water

21492149 views55 comments44 favs

People tell me my personality is a drug. Could be. My shadow is a spine. And I have the current density of copper. A welcoming face. Opium eyes opium thumbs. The piccolo is parenthetical. …

The Clique

21492149 views00 comments00 favs

On the other side of the world the Moon spun on its way.

Three Poems in March, after Baca

21492149 views88 comments55 favs

I could love them all, your people, / Learn their differences, speak their tongues, / When there is no one there to hold you / But me, my arms would be wide enough / To hold armies of your need. Do not forget.

1945, What I wanted

21492149 views1818 comments99 favs

In my innocence and young mind, I thought that kiss would mean that someday we would get married

The Perils of Open Hand

21492149 views22 comments22 favs

There are worse things than getting your ass kicked by a 12 year old Puerto Rican kid. This was exactly my thinking as he stood over me, his pre-pubescent screams sounding like a baby Bruce Lee, preparing to finish me off.

Looney Tunes

21482148 views66 comments44 favs

I put my arms around her and whisper to her while she plays the piano. She wiggles and tells me to stop it.

The Things That Danny Said

21482148 views66 comments33 favs

Danny said that you like him now. He smiled like it was the best news that he could give me, but his eyes dared me. …

Two Trees

21482148 views3636 comments2626 favs

I watch my mother and my daughter, each wondering in her own quiet way about where this story will go next.

The Massacre

21472147 views55 comments55 favs

 …

Boy Toy

21472147 views1616 comments99 favs

Sometimes you can't sleep.

Martyr

21462146 views00 comments11 fav

The everlasting shone through when skirting the tenuous threshold of the two worlds.

Helen O., Grand Central, 1959

21462146 views1919 comments1111 favs

No snippet to see, here. The piece is so short a snippet would be the whole thing.

The Damp Place

21462146 views88 comments55 favs

As long as he could still take the stairs, he would go down there to be with the memories that each piece held. He knew that their time was about up, because his was too. His wife had already gone, and even before that she had long stopped using the washe

To Be Undone

21462146 views11 comment11 fav

. . . hands before your face, heart without blood . . .

Love Story

21462146 views66 comments22 favs

You longed to rip off her butterfly wings and watch her scream in agony. You ached to carve the steel from her eyes.

Living in the Lapin of Luxury

21462146 views44 comments11 fav

“There’s cheap land at Cudlee Creek perfect for breeding long-haired rabbits,” he added. “They can’t jump high so fencing costs are low.”

The Stick

21462146 views44 comments22 favs

When you finally got blood from the hard stick You spotted the backflash of red And said Thank God. The woman’s legs and arms Were everywhere, and you were in the middle Holding her down with one hand while wielding A butterfly in the other. You stuc

Infinity Pool

21462146 views1111 comments44 favs

I sink until water saturates my lashes, waiting, breathless, for the words to stop.

dinner for one

21462146 views88 comments66 favs

no one else comes in my back door but you

Heart Line

21452145 views2424 comments1010 favs

One sunny morning, a big-bellied ball of yellow fur surveyed a yard full of prospective adopters and ran straight to one. She’d been chosen.

Bus

21452145 views55 comments44 favs

You can’t take a chandelier on an emergency dash across a nuclear desert.

A Little Fishing

21452145 views88 comments66 favs

Len and I sit on Harpo's porch, drink beer and gab. It's hot, even for July. Len and I joke and laugh, and Harpo stares off into the middle distance.

December 15, 2012

21452145 views77 comments33 favs

Already, I can see that, whenever Harold moves, some of his soul escapes, like an accidental exhalation, like breath on powder.

The Zilch Belches Out Its Own National Anthem To the Trendy Crowds

21442144 views2525 comments55 favs

" Not a day goes by/ that isn't stabbed with common sorrow"--Maurice Manning Crazy's alright by me if it's a harmless plea for some little sanity, or unavoidable by birth but it just won't do for tricks. Like say I go over there right…

Swimming Lessons

21442144 views88 comments00 favs

The trainers looked at her and smiled and they were still one creature with four legs and two heads. The old man’s left eye moved in sync with the younger one’s right eye.

Sad News

21442144 views00 comments00 favs

They got out wearing their crisp brown Army jackets and khaki pants; she saw the cross on the lapel of the officer's shirt and just knew. These men brought sad news from faraway places.

Keep a Lid on It

21442144 views44 comments44 favs

Eventually, all the windows on the street went dark, each small house cloaking its occupants in a world unto itself, soundproofed and emotionally remote.