Most recent stories

Mistrial

866866 views22 comments00 favs

His tie was made in France. Shoes: Italian. White, broadcloth shirt —Brooks Brothers, I'm guessing from the way the collar stood at attention under his medical jacket. He looked professional, but for a doctor, his attire, like the social worker with him,…

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Writers

650650 views00 comments00 favs

If you want a nice meal, writers take you to diners. They’re thinkin’ noirly, you want something finer.

They Come and Go

804804 views33 comments00 favs

Days come and go. Faster through the years. Falling like Christmas tree needles, the longer the tree stands. The days will eventually end. Only one day a year is special. Even when we say we are too old to notice them, we do. We know they are there. Even when we…

The Infinite Wheel, Hold That Taxi

12621262 views33 comments22 favs

Scientists have discovered what I already did once on dope way back in the Sixties. There are so many other earths out there that they are almost infinite. Now in our other lives we have to shuttle from planet to planet reading our poems. And o

Nausea

14061406 views1313 comments1111 favs

It’s been a series of bad clams

Sailor & I

11041104 views66 comments33 favs

We were born here. At the top of the stairs underneath a painting of basset hounds playing croquet. And a hallway closet filled with lost someones. And the police, three times a week, singing nursery rhymes while walking up to our door.

Payments

10511051 views11 comment11 fav

What it was for, didn’t matter. When Susan walked into Fred’s house every few weeks and start talking, he’d just nod and say, “Sure, I know how tough it is out there, baby.” Then they’d drink some wine and put on some music, and he’d give her a little mon

Fire

891891 views11 comment00 favs

She left the bathroom and slammed the bedroom door. He heard the lock close.

The Full Car: A California Saga (1968)

10441044 views00 comments00 favs

—They turned him into a time bomb. Listen close, and you can hear the tick-tick-tick. —All I hear is snoring. How do you know he was brainwashed? —Because he can’t remember a thing about the experiment. —I can say this: If he can’t remember anyth

The Lake

15261526 views55 comments44 favs

The Lake I. When the weather was nice, the fisherman and his girl spread a blanket over the shore's rough sand and watched the cargo ships cleave their way to the…

Fiery Passions

10451045 views00 comments00 favs

Isaac Beauregard Lyons woke with a start as he heard the slamming of a pickup truck door then a curse from someone down on his front lawn. “Damn it Mike, be quiet!” someone shouted.

Champagne Velvet

958958 views00 comments11 fav

“So he rounds up three bums and says he'll buy 'em a case of beer if they’ll do a job for him. All they have to do is ride around in a car for his campaign. Of course they all said yes.”

We Are

966966 views55 comments55 favs

for Melissa together today. I like that feeling. I want to pound a piano into the ground just for you. To your warmest heartbeat I raise my glass. Thank you. It doesn't really matter if they think that's a velvety Elvis…

Hammer Had

11471147 views11 comment11 fav

They say I'm supposed to see everything as a nail, but I have a silver head. Too soft for bang-bang. Too soft for anything but sitting on a shelf. I sat in her classroom for twenty-five years. She was proud of me and pointed often to the words inscribed on me that I can't…

When I Met Sally

960960 views11 comment11 fav

When I met Sally I was all Unsuspecting Of what powers Might be found In this world and In a woman.

The Rug

14411441 views88 comments22 favs

Marge bought the rug on-line.

How to Survive Your First Breakup (Anxiety)

16351635 views44 comments33 favs

And don’t you dare start panicking. Just sit there silently, letting the truth that you’re alone sear the back of your neck until it starts to feel cold.

Tabula Rasa

10471047 views55 comments33 favs

accidental ground/ for index-fingered figures

One Sick, Two Sick, Red Sick, Blue Sick

12571257 views66 comments55 favs

I found a diseased fish / wedged between some boulders near the pier

The Watchers

12931293 views77 comments66 favs

Up at the top, a quarter mile south, billows of black smoke crawled up the faint blue of the sky.

fealty

12921292 views66 comments44 favs

just before my break,/ he came on the line,/ old and slow with computers now/ but wanting a discount/ he'd been told he qualified for.

Missed

17861786 views1313 comments1515 favs

How I felt in Ireland.

The Dog

15791579 views66 comments22 favs

They stood at the intersection waiting for the light to change so they could cross the highway.

questions, alas

881881 views11 comment11 fav

If in one instant of follie I plea to you What am I? would you then not ask yourselfwhat are We?Would you think maybe We are oneand I would ask to you my loveCan One, then, be transformed into Two? What is left of one after the sum?Can two be touched or…

What the Doormat Said

27872787 views55 comments44 favs

It's not my fault I was made to be stepped on, so stop saying what I am with such contempt. Yes, I'm a doormat. No, I'm not weak. I have taken a hundred kinds of treads, twice as many pounds at once, and once or twice there have been cleats. Think about what those would do…

mondays get all the heat

12351235 views55 comments44 favs

when i was five or six/ we lived in an apartment/ and every sunday/ i'd lie on the carpet/ to watch squares of sunshine/ crawl across the rug/ while my mother inflicted upon us/ a centuries-long hour of television/ worse than any droning mass.

Residual

13971397 views88 comments66 favs

Our afterlife depends upon// what interesting shape

All Art Is Betrayal

16191619 views2929 comments1616 favs

a world of probability against plague

Your Call Is Not Very Important To Us

19191919 views55 comments33 favs

Please stay on the line. Or don't stay on the line. We don't care. If we cared about your call, we'd answer it. Which, to be honest, isn't going to happen. We're going to make you hold. And while you hold, we're going to subject you to some really bad…

Cancer Always Calls Collect - Part 13 - Revival of the Fittest

10231023 views00 comments00 favs

My body continues to tread water through its daily existence and each day challenges me to find some sort of grounding. I often wonder who needs taking care of as I find myself sometimes spiraling in a downwards cycle-- not even taking a required break