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The Whole Deal with the 'Willamette's Weak-Links'

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[My baloney has a first name: it's Oh, Ess, Cee, Ay -- shit! I forget the rest! Can we start over?]

Get Thee to a Nunnery

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I was in a nunnery wondering how I wound up in the midst of so many nuns as it wasn't my nature to hang out with nuns. I find them tedious and redundant, though I do have to say I appreciate their economy with words. You never really saw a…

Munchausen's By Sick Time

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I will never waste my sick time on my own sicknesses unless I am in a coma.

Transmitter/Receiver

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Valerie had purchased a new cell phone in late 2007, and, say a few months afterwards, in the beginning of 2008 a demon briefly took up residence in it. She had just returned home from running a few errands, and set her phone down on her desk. She had been focusing on…

Pageant Night

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All the baby monsters are being born on stage.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 19

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The vibrations gave her a real charge. It works dressed or undressed.

Call Me Rust

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Call me anything but Ishmael. Call me Enamel.

Roger's Box

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"I see flashing bright bacteria floating in the air," he replied, not bothering to think about the words. "I see puffs of smoke issuing from inappropriate objects. Fingertips. Baby carrots. Furniture... Oh, Christ," he seethed, arching again. "Get me some

Smoke

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On his last day of high school Jackie York woke up to the smell of burning books. He didn't know it was his last day of high school. He did know the smoke coming through his rusty window screen was book smoke.

The Mutes

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She was deaf, but he was not; they both could sign.

A Young Twenty

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This is no age for love; this is a time for discovery. So no time for me to sit around my candle is slowly burning, while wind combs my hair. If this is what loves comes to then I predict in the eventuality of me being an old woman by the sea living with her friend, the…

If we thought that love was gone

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If we thought that love was gone that out of sweetness none remained

A MAMMOTH UNDERTAKING

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My best friend and roommate Eliza woke up one morning with the sudden conviction that she had to become very fat, as soon as possible.

Salt

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I imagined the crystals in my mouth. Salt flowers blooming on my tongue.

Haiku for National Poetry Day 2012

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Late morning sun,Windows are all open:Autumn's last warm day?

Where We Come From

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Where We Come From (ver. 2.0) (Leadwood, Missouri pop. 1,200) I Matt lit a joint here driving beneath the arms of dying trees The moon shone through in jigsaw puzzles that we could never quite figure out Gravel crackled like leaves in fire …

Tweeting "War and Peace" by Bobbie Ann Mason and Meg Pokrass

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by Bobbie Ann Mason and Meg Pokrass at The Nervous Breakdown website: http://www.thenervousbreakdown.com/mpokrass/2012/10/tweeting-war-and-peace-with-bobbie-ann-mason/

The Latest Rock Groups

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Luke Warm and the Sole Contenders. Door Odor Ant. Release My Pajamas! Behemoth Pterodactyls. Dragon Wagons. Mucked Up. The Gosspinator. Italian Film Director. Summer Dress. Unsolicited Advice. Golden Calf. The Gum-Chewin Gurus.…

Dead Bird Uncovered by Spring

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Left by a melting snowbank: Cup lids, pine needles, a cairn of dog shit, And the grey soggy shape Of an eyeless winter bird. His breast is an old accordion Gone to rot in an old…

Mariposa

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My father pressed on,/ deliberate and calm,/ waiting for the ambulance

Meet Robert Grady

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Robert had chopped his hair and grown a soul patch since I'd last seen him. He was tanned, the hair on the top of his head was spiked, and some gray specks were creeping in on the hair on the side of his head. Had…

Getting There

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The monarchs that migrate to Mexico and California in the autumn every year live for only a month.

Feast of Sacrifice

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I'd have gone even if I got F's for the entire two weeks. The homeless would have homes, the sick, medicine; the hungry would eat. They could not wait for the generosity of Kurban Bayramı. Now was the hour of relief. The children's eyes. Lambs whose bl

Beowulf in Hell (in Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse)

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They strung him up,…

Strut

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The devil ran in my blood.Scars chase each other on my skin.One year old, I fell down the stairs in my walker.Five years old, I fell out of a tree while convincing my older sister to climbthe outlawed tree.At six I rode my bike down the biggest hill in the…

Determination without Negation: A Love Story

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In dreams begin responsibilities--Yeats I'm writing this story to tell you about a mistake, despite the fact that you might find it boring or might consider my writing style onerous or overeager. I begin with…

How Would Jesus Drive?

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Contemporary persecution of Christians takes on milder forms of torture like having to explain away something Pat Robertson said, or constantly having to hear about Fred Phelps picketing funerals because he happens to hate homosexuals.

Posted for Non-Payment of Dues

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The little notice talked its trash, a J’accuse! “Posted: For Non-Payment of Dues.”

In This, Our Life

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Her captors allowed her the use of the toes of one foot. It was hard to pretend she was numb—as if playing an artic game indoors. With the ball of her foot, she primed the canvas. Her big toe acted as a fan brush, the rest were sable, flat, or pointy. She told…

Must've Done Something, Right?

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I hope you’re happy, she said. Fucker!