Most read stories

Cream-colored Berets and Big Fish

20282028 views1313 comments1414 favs

Alone on the platform, I waited for a train.

Beyond the Voice

20282028 views88 comments55 favs

We might as well be honest: we’re talking about the two of us here. No one, not even the cameraman, had any idea even after all these years. For more than a decade we’d been bringing the six o’clock news into a medium-almost-major market region.

From Beyond

20282028 views22 comments00 favs

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

Scooter and Skipper at the Roman Colosseum

20272027 views1313 comments66 favs

We make our way into the Colosseum–excuse me, the Prince Spaghetti Colosseum–and take in the beauty of Italy’s national pastime; sadistic cruelty to wacko religious cults.

The Death of Narrative

20272027 views2323 comments1515 favs

“Why, you tell a story,” one young fellow said. The expression on his face said “How gauche, how passé!”

Test Results

20272027 views22 comments11 fav

Six weeks, four thousand dollars, and twelve hundred miles later, I figured I was done with the cleansing process.

Crystal Tips

20272027 views44 comments44 favs

by the time he's moves onto knives, she has appeared in next door's window: sliver of nut-pale belly, fingers wet with suds, nails painted bright as glitterballs.

Ornamental Onion

20272027 views77 comments33 favs

i imagined myself & i was phlox saxifrage pompom ranunculus poppy anemone ornamental onion rattlesnake red ribbon nerine & i loved the painted tongue & i wore the rattlesnake

Appointment

20272027 views1919 comments88 favs

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

Snatch (XIV)

20262026 views1616 comments99 favs

She's in charge.

Deep Inside The Light There Are No Dreams

20262026 views2323 comments1919 favs

Mack’s mind held a chandelier.

Velvet

20262026 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?

Bookends of a Life: I

20262026 views1717 comments77 favs

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

Shopping Mall Santa

20262026 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.

Things You Can Do, Some Can't Be Done

20262026 views00 comments00 favs

The deep breathing has helped. My heart rate is back down to a normal resting rate somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 beats per minute, about one solid thump every second like clockwork, a precision I can truly appreciate.

Girma Dali - Chapter 2

20262026 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.

Halloween Hangover

20252025 views1414 comments1313 favs

Did someone say BOO?

Loose

20252025 views2121 comments1313 favs

pretty music

Searching for Samuel Beckett

20252025 views4242 comments1818 favs

At the Cimitiere Montparnasse he offers the girl his raincoat. I'm searching for Samuel Beckett, he says, and holds an umbrella over her as she consults her map. We're close, she says, pointing. I'll go with you. Then we can visit Simone de Beauvoir. My name is Scarlet.…

Miguel's Fence

20252025 views99 comments88 favs

Miguel's mom told everyone if you pressed your ear against the knot, Jesus would tell you special secrets.

Muslin

20252025 views1515 comments99 favs

Outside I see the daytime moon, and it is faint as a fingerprint. My cousins have up-turned the biggest rocks and removed all the Sow bugs. The land is damp and red, and the trees feel wet to the center.

Arcade Encounter

20252025 views66 comments55 favs

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

Free Space

20252025 views1010 comments99 favs

The winner was some kid from Ohio or Oklahoma -- one of those states that begins with an "O" and ends with a yawn.

Three New Poems

20252025 views99 comments88 favs

Letter(s)The sky set itself on fire, butit really didn't make a whole lot of difference. Birdsknew not to worry any more thanusual. Trees thought and made the mostof their landscapes as a way ofbeing modern and yet timeless. It's onlypeople who suffer from too much…

A List of Ways I Have Failed to Express My Love for You

20242024 views44 comments44 favs

The gaudy belt buckle I got you, which would have been well-received except that you hate gaudy belt buckles.The custom t-shirt I made for you using iron-on felt letters that generously enhanced the shape of your breasts in a way unfit for public display.The wedding…

Roadside Daisies

20242024 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.

At This Particular Moment

20242024 views1111 comments88 favs

in time there is nothing more important for meto write than this line. It isn't defined in the way you'd like perhaps, but it doesn't matter because it will be true, and you will be true, and I will be the message you get. Some signal has…

Blueberries

20242024 views66 comments11 fav

Cold water shocked Ernest's face. The evening with Gracie had his nerves hot and popping. She was his fifth date and the closest to his memory of Sadie in college so far. He looked up at himself in the bathroom mirror with his mouth agape. Redness flooded…

What Remains II

20232023 views22 comments00 favs

Duh. It’s all the same sky. Instead I nod, and don’t say anything.

Hemera Rises

20232023 views33 comments22 favs

The woods. They say don’t wander too far into the woods, where those ghosts can’t hear you and the moonlight won’t trace you a path. In the black crowd of trees there’s something waiting. Don’t go to the where the siren is singing...