Most read stories

Snatch (XIV)

20112011 views1616 comments99 favs

She's in charge.

Velvet

20112011 views1212 comments77 favs

Bloop. Velvet's paws hit the carpet. The new man of the house is on the prowl for food, a walk. Breakfast was Rice-A-Roni; for lunch I'm serving Ring Dings. Perhaps he'd like a bite?

Goodbye, Brother

20112011 views99 comments88 favs

My brother died in his sleep almost two months ago. He was 25. He was addicted to pharmaceuticals. Two days before he died, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed his truck into a highway sign. It was the last thing he owned. He had been living with m

Three Sundays at The Grove

20102010 views55 comments33 favs

Now, gazing into Greg’s expectant eyes, the only Chinese word Deepti could summon was kuei. Ghost. Before that summer, her mother flipped through the pages of Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir every day, as if she could glean magic from the touch of her finge

Girma Dali - Chapter 2

20102010 views00 comments00 favs

This is Chapter 2 of my serialzied novel Girma Dali. The title character reflects upon his youth and the young boy, Benga, who mentored him into adolescence.

This Thing

20102010 views1414 comments1111 favs

I'm sure someone somewhere must havefelt something like it before. Imean I've never been able tohave this kind of deep longing asif you might want to forget everythingyou know. I always figured that funny stuff onlyhappened to folks in a foreignfilm. Not to some guy…

Luminous Nights

20102010 views44 comments33 favs

A great doubt had shut out the light inside us, but each of us called for our lover at the end, and she was generous. Carrying us along inside her over vast distances, chilling our soul with sudden terrible flashes of light.

Fragile Things

20102010 views1010 comments99 favs

She asks me what she should do, and I say I don't know because I'm no good at handling fragile things. She says, let's talk about you. I say I can't - phone signal, you know. She calls me anyway, twice, then leaves a message saying that she just wanted to

DEFILEMENT OUTSIDE OF HEAVEN, TWO MILES

20092009 views00 comments00 favs

The road that passed through the swamp near where the cemetery stood, that is, the road that passed by the cemetery that stood near where the swamp lay—but no, that’s not the case, because that’s not the same road. If I’d been on THAT road—

A Boy Named Suicide

20092009 views77 comments55 favs

Came to admire Kiyoko Matsumoto. Japanese. Aged 19. Lesbian. 1933. Jumped into a volcano.

Taxi

20092009 views1616 comments1515 favs

lost in a taxi cab, 4:30 am

Roadside Daisies

20092009 views22 comments00 favs

The phone rang. Pete wiped his heavy eyes and squinted so he could see. He looked at the clock. It was five o’clock in the morning. He rolled over and tucked his head under his pillow. The phone rang again. He ignored it. It rang again. He picked up.

Appointment

20092009 views1919 comments88 favs

He stared at the mirror, his hair looked chewed up–severed by a miniature lawnmower.

Locations

20092009 views1313 comments1212 favs

They confess love for Karaoke and metal rock. They have purchased expensive Stratocasters and Zildjians.

Phenomenology

20092009 views1818 comments99 favs

The universe is churn-

From Beyond

20092009 views22 comments00 favs

Someday they'll find me face-down in a puddle of ink.

When you were nine

20082008 views1111 comments1010 favs

When you were nine your head fell off in the playground. Dr Mort was called. He pasted it back on with PVA glue. You'd never know now.——When you were nine your arms turned into trees. Dr Mort worked his magic with the chainsaw. You still need light pruning once…

My House In The Middle Of The Ocean

20082008 views22 comments11 fav

I built a house in the middle of the ocean. I used sunlight for nails. Wind for wood. Stars for chandeliers, the moon for a doorknob.

Bookends of a Life: I

20082008 views1717 comments77 favs

You have transformed me into an aimless, sleepless wraith...

Cure

20082008 views2323 comments1515 favs

It's as if there are little men inside her head, wielding hammers.

two dudes talking

20082008 views22 comments11 fav

“What about this shirt?” “I didn't know Gap had an ‘approaching middle age pimp' department.” “So… no?” “Yeah. No.” “Approaching middle age?” “So…” “So?” “Soooooo…”…

Seed Toss

20082008 views1313 comments1111 favs

Know what you’ll become? You’ll become one of those guys who masturbates in any single occupancy restroom that locks.

Songlines

20082008 views1313 comments1111 favs

When the planes crashed,when the levees broke,when the ground shook,there was a song I dreamed of,humming subsonic,a chorus of voices and prayersuncorked like the little brown jugthat holds all the love and memories.In the outback, Aborigines believewe create the world by…

Arcade Encounter

20082008 views66 comments55 favs

Looking over the crowd in the arcade is like looking over a crowd of zombies.

Shopping Mall Santa

20072007 views22 comments11 fav

The punk boys are my favorite. They come with an attitude, the piercings and the chains and the baggy pants with their underwear hanging out. I’m a punk myself, I tell them. The long white hair and beard? They’re real, my friend.

Trust Walk

20072007 views44 comments11 fav

They were two girls walking home from school.

Things Worth Saving

20062006 views1919 comments1717 favs

It felt like I was somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be, like I’d walked into a house that looked like mine, but belonged to someone else.

If This Were Baltimore

20062006 views1515 comments88 favs

If This Were Baltimore East A spray of change in the lilies and loose rubber, she pulled close to the wall. She smiled at the trucks, her handful of loot. Hallelujah, he said, converting. West Like 4 miles of cakes, they counted…

Deep Inside The Light There Are No Dreams

20052005 views2323 comments1919 favs

Mack’s mind held a chandelier.

Roper RTW4640YQ1

20052005 views1111 comments1010 favs

locking the door against dangerous// human curiosity and forgetfulness.