Most recent stories

Cranshaw on the Road / Chapel Access

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"Why so ornery?" she asked.

Days of Future, Past

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Though bleached white as snow,/ Eric Cantor’s teeth broke/ much as any others would

Light Shot Water

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Where I grew up, you did not venture casually into ocean waters.

Luminous Nights, 9

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Both of us agreed we needed to break up, and have some time apart before we ended up killing each other. Before Robbie left Chicago to begin classes out in California, he made a promise to me — that he intended one day to return and marry me. He sai

Free As A Bird

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The cell was crowded, barely enough room to swing a cat.

Daddy Walked the Pits

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Seems like the tar just got hold of Daddy somehow. What is it about asphalt and a man?

IRS Tries Eunuchs for Tough Tax Collection Cases

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“I’ve seized a family’s satellite dish, I’ve put a lien on a guy’s blue tick hound–everything,” Suggins says with a laugh.

The Floating Dock

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Charley carried the corpse over to the dinghy and tossed it into the pool of rain water collected inside. The headless snake swerved through the water, oblivious to its fate, powered perhaps by exposed nerves and muscle memory.

Even The Air Has Fingers

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Fingers amaze me. They uncoil from a fist into a star of infinite capacity.

77 Words About Nothing (4.05.2012)

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I sold my ego to pay a parking ticket. And then I wrote 77 words about mental health.

Ambient

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I try to make conversation by showing her the washing instructions for the jeans I just bought for $375.00. She reads slowly. “What, do they assume you live in Australia or something?”

Still

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I wanted only to be still, to become a rustle for a moment of papery fall leaves sighing past one another on their way to the funeral pyre in the front lawn, sweetly fragrant with the scent of death and inevitable decline, fearless in their annihilation, incandescent…

Right Now You're Being So Sloshed{revisited}

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amongst the other gentlygathering flotsam up against my internal dictionary's borders. Doesn't matter much if the deed is life rushing itself through a tube that poured us out together like this, or just mutual need that…

15 Restatements

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I arrange 15 restatements of how lovely you are forward then backward, horizontally then vertically then along the diagonals.

Cactus

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I counted telephone poles and the seconds between them. The old highway cut straight through the sand and it seemed the road would never end. No curves. No hills. Just poles.

Rules, Laws, and Restrictions: The New Society

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#1. No chocolate or dessert ads of any kind after 8 p.m. #2. No names such as Wild Ferret, Backhoe, or Bunny Bacon allowed on the internet after hours. #3. No Smoky Motor Cars It’s the New Society. All will be well, after dark. Remember, only the

Brussegem, a snug hell (novel excerpt)

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Long ago, this painter Brussegem had hung the dark mantle of Outcast Artist” over his shoulders—and over his life, he formed a strict philosophy—Art and Only Art—and protected his solitude and artistry with all his moody might,....

Why I Don't Write Sex Scenes Anymore

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I’ve had my face talked off by those types (and I’m sure you’ve met a few) who need to say and hear “special” words, and they go "unh-hunh, unh-hunh, o yeah, o yeah, unh hunh."

The Judger

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Better not hand me that iPhone. I'll look up every damned thing in it.

The Confounded

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Your left hand cups your balls which are drawn up tight under a turgid fireplug cock. Your right hovers over your temple, thumb cocked at the cheek. Your eyes are dreamy, mouth wry, chest and belly furry and fat. You're a picture in a file on my desktop on which…

How to Pass among Mortals

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Take no form or face beautiful enough to cause warfare, or that which would provoke inanimate objects to song. If a tree wishes to flower in your presence, request that this happen very slowly.

Luminous Nights, 8

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Overnight Robbie had lost his youth. But since he was still only nine and his arm looked like a nine-year-old's arm, people didn't notice much at first, until he tried running. Or if he was introduced, and they went to shake his hand. He immediately lea

The Eric Dolphy Marching Band

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My wife storms into the kitchen with a pink mako shark slung over her shoulder, barking "Dinner!" towards me as I sit on the counter swishing my middle finger through a bowl of sand.

Heroes

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no one told him there was a place where heroes died, but he should have known it was in love

Mixtape

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12. Paper Wings (Gillian Welch) This one's really depressing. Maybe you shouldn't listen to it so much.

Subways are Silver

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Subways are silver Taxis are yellow and Trees are green.

Momma's Prayers

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One night, I wake and Daddy’s in the bathroom with a hanger in his mouth.

Mississippi Burning

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“There are no inhibitions in here,” the postman shouted, gesturing at the dance floor with his Marlboro Light, the glowing tip aimed at a woman in a taut skirt. Leaning far forward, her hands nearly touching the plywood floor, she planted her feet and beg

Hollywood Stars

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Your Uncle Howard and I listened to Dutch Reagan re broadcast big league baseball on WHO Radio when we were little. He'd call the play action off the wire complete with sound effects. The son of a bitch turned out to be a Republican...

Downtown Milwaukee

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Downtown Milwaukee My feet are exposed, never been out in public even out here— …