Most recent stories

My Uncle's Last Day in Hospice

13901390 views77 comments88 favs

In and out of morphine dreams, he flies through the unfinished roof of Illinois sky. Below, matchbox-sized farm machines. A silo becomes his father's thermos, the silver-capped tower from which he stole sips at ten, his first secret. Back …

flash poem

15541554 views77 comments55 favs

Why flash?because the moments, the moments, they pass in flashes of brilliancethat shudder, death glow alightand nothing makes sense beyond nowand nothing will help me but meand I am not even enoughnot my thoughts or your nod of assentor even the deep sigh of…

Palinode for a Love That Failed

11331133 views33 comments22 favs

Palinode: A poem written to retract something said in a prior poem.

Dirty Deeds

12111211 views00 comments00 favs

Mustard stings the corner of his lips. He swipes it away with a finger, and looks closer at the hot dog. The piece of meat is ripped open like a sliced finger stuck in a doughy bandage

The Reward of Work is Harder Work

12541254 views1010 comments88 favs

If you stop, you starve// and they just offer what you do/ to others, starved already,/ and schooled, as you, in servitude.

White Treasure

10081008 views11 comment11 fav

one man's trash

Mom Dream, from the Family Album

11381138 views33 comments33 favs

She was trying to hold something, gathering in … lips blue/ black, saying: “I’m all right.” I remember her telling me, over the phone one time: “It’s a baby rabbit, and he was having a picnic. He was chewing away and chewing away. I had six tomato pla

How Bruce Became a Lover of Key Lime Pie

10211021 views33 comments11 fav

He consumed the key lime pie, while wearing a lime-green sports bra.

The Vermeer of Shoes

14171417 views44 comments44 favs

My flash kept going off. The museum officials are strict about such matters. Sans flash! Sans flash, Monsieur!

The Day of the Dust Devils

11541154 views22 comments11 fav

The main street has turned into the lowland of dust devils, with the red sun scorching, continuing to serve the living like a giant blood pentacle.It looks like a heathen ritual invoking an ugly looking God with wings or horns, but beneath the whirlwind of rising…

Table Thoughts

15911591 views77 comments88 favs

“You should've let him drown,” she once told me. Doesn't she see that I did? I'll let her drown, too.

Rain Song at Summer’s End

11111111 views55 comments33 favs

Soft rain, small rain, steady rain— what the shrubs and tangled young red oak tree need—

Where Does the Foam From the Lattes Go?

10581058 views33 comments11 fav

Where does the foam from the lattes go? I'm not being flip--I want to know.

Saturdays with Satan

10671067 views44 comments33 favs

You know what's wrong with Hell these days? Do ya? It's too fucking corporate. Too commercial.

Strangers on a Train

13391339 views99 comments55 favs

I'm putting makeup on my face. The woman next to me is reviewing legal briefs.

My Whole Life Story (Again and Again)

14581458 views33 comments33 favs

When John wakes up, the first thing he does is run a bath, because his shower is broken, and while the bath is running he gets his breakfast ready.

Blog 9-15-11

13091309 views66 comments33 favs

...my books have lots of swear words. So there's that.

Male Pattern Invocation

14951495 views99 comments77 favs

in the much more terrorizing display/ of male pattern stupidity// as seen so often on TV/ in the House and at Fox News.

The People

990990 views44 comments44 favs

living in the cross current lawn-care worlds don't give a whit about the so called deeper things. They don't have to scrape and you can't make them go to the river to see a sunset. They've got all their bonafide luxuries in a smart little…

Falling from Grace

11301130 views44 comments22 favs

Royce fell from Grace and landed in the fountain surrounding her pedestal. It wasn't the first time Royce had climbed the statue. It was the first time he'd been sober.

Fruit Flies

978978 views33 comments33 favs

Bite an apple and watch them come, God only knows wherefrom.

A Figure Left the Building

15291529 views1616 comments1010 favs

A figure left the building.

Killing Dennis Gauda

13301330 views44 comments33 favs

I killed him. I know you probably don't believe me, but it was an accident. I'll bet everyone in this room knows Dennis Gauda.... or should I say knew him? He was District Governor a while back. He also won quite a few speech contests. Yes... he's competition,…

Dating My Terrorist

13281328 views22 comments11 fav

“Maybe you should consider dating your terrorist,” my dad said to me. “Most terrorists, I think their problem is they can’t get a date. "

STROBE

13661366 views33 comments11 fav

No excerpts for you. Next!

When the Witness Calls

17821782 views1515 comments1111 favs

Here they come, those witnesses.

Three Short Shorts

30203020 views3131 comments3131 favs

When Uncle Dan got sent to the Alzheimer's ward, the ladies licked their lips. Fresh meat.

Friendship

196196 views33 comments22 favs

The routine was this: after getting off from the job at Carpet World in the Bear Run Shopping Center off of I-95, Stephen would wait for Dink to pick him up in his mother's honda. Then they would drive around for a while, usually on the less trafficked ro

The Boy Who Knew Death

39323932 views2323 comments1010 favs

As the sun rose each morning, so did the lonely old man with it; a sad limping figure strolling across the front lawn with a cigar tucked in his mouth, lighting fresh candles here and there, perhaps on an imagined grave of some loved one long lost to the infirmity of time…

In the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, Wednesday

777777 views00 comments00 favs

In Quiapo Church, Manila, / I crossed the aisle between pews on my knees, // along with old men and women / with desperate wishes, like myself