Most recent stories

Freeze! It's the Library Police!

17421742 views55 comments44 favs

A Texas man was recently arrested for failing to return a GED study guide to his local public library. He'd kept it out for three years. This is the kind of news story that brings joy to a librarian's heart.The library where I work just installed a…

Manifesto of ism

14621462 views22 comments22 favs

We walk though the streets of London, New York, Paris, Prague, Barcelona, Skegness, inhaling air heavy with metaphors, eyes set alight by the microscopic pyrotechnics of quotidian symbols hitherto debased by the outmoded conventions of a bankrupt civilisation decomposing in…

His Essay on the Meaning of Poetry

15761576 views66 comments44 favs

Poetry is conceit; emotional, intellectual or technical.

The Squirrel that Ate Cincinnati

11831183 views33 comments22 favs

The drug that brought me here is orange and opposable as a thumb. Therefore, send me a dollar and I will swim in your beautiful gaze like a new experience. We can be caviar together and create metaphors for the stars.

gravelortian part 12

12631263 views22 comments22 favs

He said I was doing it all wrong Opened up his ghastly mouth

Your Tits Make My Feathers Fall Off

15671567 views66 comments66 favs

He thought she should have come with an owner’s manual So he would know how to operate the equipment It was definitely more than he bargained for Or knew how to handle She was too hot

Hara-kiri

16741674 views44 comments44 favs

unwrapping the gauze from her wrists....

Five Million Yen: Chapter 73

13731373 views22 comments11 fav

The pawnbroker sat behind bulletproof glass at the rear of the display area, a veritable potentate of hope and cash, exchanging expendable items for derisory cash.

The Lost Place

17021702 views66 comments44 favs

. . . laughter and madness.

Ten Little Indians

18521852 views1010 comments1010 favs

One day we went for a hike. We climbed a small mountain. It’s called Mission Peak. We got about halfway up a steep trail, decided that was far enough. We embraced. She said “I love you,” and I said, “I love you, too.”

This Is How Far It Is

13931393 views33 comments33 favs

How long has this been going on? the admitting nurse asks.

The Lovers

23682368 views1414 comments77 favs

I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY TO YOU, she lisps, and, with this, the fissure in the man’s head reaches the bottom of his chin and the hollow head splits in two.

The Yawn

19831983 views1010 comments88 favs

La Petite Ange had lived all her life in Paris under the strange architectural twists of Notre Dame. She had been a Bluebell girl once, kicking her surprisingly long legs into the air to the delight of plumbers and Prince du…

The Nudist Camp at the End of the Rainbow

19471947 views1111 comments55 favs

What did they even invent clothing for? I asked.

gravelortian part 11

956956 views00 comments00 favs

It's easier to sleep when the alarms don't go off

Five Million Yen: Chapter 72

17391739 views55 comments22 favs

Ben considered his options in the taxi to Charles De Gaulle airport.

Car Alarm

18411841 views1919 comments1515 favs

That’s the body for you.

The Form of a Cyclist

14351435 views88 comments44 favs

His legs were pedaling hard and his heart was beating fast, He's got his scars; He can't outrun his past, Down the hill he goes, wind whipped his hair, a new style with each draft. He broke his brakes long ago; He cut the cable and ripped off the pads. He cried…

Tia Alvarez

17711771 views22 comments11 fav

Penny followed the woman into the warm, dark interior of her home, which smelled strongly of cumin and other familiar spices she couldn’t name. Penny noted that the tia’s hair had turned almost completely white and had grown very long since Penny had last

What We Talk About When We Talk About Photosynthesis

13361336 views55 comments22 favs

Minimalist/realist short-story writer Raymond Carver was fired from his job as an editor of science textbooks because of his inappropriate writing style.

Marion, Texas

20322032 views22 comments22 favs

Marion had decided to stop whenever she came upon Amarillo. It was close to two a.m. when she pulled into the motel parking lot. Momma, read the nametag on the woman at reception. Her face was illuminated by a TV. Her hair curlers were illuminated by the lone desk lamp…

Miguel's Fence

20962096 views99 comments88 favs

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

Perdita in pieces

14561456 views55 comments55 favs

Perdita's confusing profusion of parts makes it impossible to know which way up she goes.She flutters beneath the camera's shuttered stare, …

But She Means Well

13141314 views55 comments55 favs

My wife said she’d only be gone 10 minutes. 10 minutes. She left me with the 2 boxes we couldn’t fit into the car, and went home to unload the 5 others. She’d be back in 10 minutes. I got a call after half an hour, she was on her way back to get me. I

Trickery

15921592 views77 comments66 favs

Maybe it was a trick of the gloom.

gravelortian part 10

11421142 views11 comment11 fav

We have been down here before

The Blush of Rose

15121512 views33 comments22 favs

Rose was the easiest lay in the Fletcher Memorial Home For The Aged.

Fifteen

13331333 views77 comments55 favs

Lucy entered the open door next; she had been inside the cat litter house before: Brother Fran didn’t bother to cover turds he’d laid. He spoke of the outdoors: lizards he’d separated from their heads, world of work.

Young fool

18181818 views1919 comments1717 favs

my lawn, get off of it

The Apartment House

16891689 views99 comments88 favs

Everybody called her The Crier because from time to time we would hear her crying.