Most read stories

Destroy the Evidence

20222022 views55 comments44 favs

The oven door topples off of its hinges as she kicks and climbs out. She growls and quickly slaps out her still smoldering sweater shoulder. Taking a kitchen chair by the back, she swings it over her head and shatters the window. The chair breaks into splinters as she…

Beyond the Voice

20222022 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.

Fragile Things

20222022 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

Physicist in love

20222022 views1313 comments99 favs

He saw symmetry, exquisite geometry, body and built world in harmony.

two dudes talking

20212021 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…”…

Girma Dali - Chapter 2

20212021 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.

You'll Have To Come Out Because I Won't Let You In

20202020 views66 comments33 favs

the pollen of your kisses and the shouts of your love shaking the sky

Snatch (XIV)

20202020 views1616 comments99 favs

She's in charge.

Test Results

20202020 views22 comments11 fav

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

Shopping Mall Santa

20202020 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.

'Introduction' to LETTING IT ALL HANG OUT

20202020 views00 comments00 favs

Was Sligo an unfeeling privacy-violator or an uncannily-feeling empath, privy to the deepest longings of those whose lives he came in contact with? [...] Sligo's grave is as silent as these pages ultimately would be if they were left unread.

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

20202020 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…

Arcade Encounter

20202020 views66 comments55 favs

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

From Beyond

20202020 views22 comments00 favs

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

Miguel's Fence

20192019 views99 comments88 favs

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

Roadside Daisies

20192019 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.

Things Worth Saving

20192019 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.

Free Space

20192019 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

20192019 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…

Cream-colored Berets and Big Fish

20192019 views1313 comments1414 favs

Alone on the platform, I waited for a train.

Scooter and Skipper at the Roman Colosseum

20182018 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.

DEFILEMENT OUTSIDE OF HEAVEN, TWO MILES

20182018 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—

Crystal Tips

20182018 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.

Things You Can Do, Some Can't Be Done

20182018 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.

Ornamental Onion

20182018 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

Act of Creation

20182018 views22 comments11 fav

Mary ran her cake business in a way she could never have run her marriage. It was by appointment only, full deposit, partial refund (and this purely at her own discretion). Business was terrific and she had to turn down job after job. She only made…

At This Particular Moment

20182018 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…

The New Dark Ages

20182018 views77 comments33 favs

It was only later, much later, that we would discover that the war we were fighting was a war between ourselves. Melissa and I left the machine, with Carlton lost forever inside. We abandoned the warehouse. Our backs were scalded from the heat, and the hole in the…

Boredom & Ennui

20172017 views00 comments00 favs

I had a weird feeling I had just validated his behavior — provided another tile in the mosaic of his ego and self-esteem — by doing nothing more than entering this hall of mirrors, and reflecting.

Deep Inside The Light There Are No Dreams

20172017 views2323 comments1919 favs

Mack’s mind held a chandelier.