Most recent stories

Norm Bladdon, Private G.I.

10261026 views00 comments00 favs

I'd had a long, hard fall from the pinnacle of the profession. I made the mistake of accepting a mouse pad, coffee mug and a fleece pullover with the logo of Upchux, an anti-reflux drug, on the left breast where you'd get heartburn.

A Message from Your Local Superintendent Concerning Sex in Our Public Schools

14471447 views00 comments00 favs

Such behavior will result in no disciplinary action only: 1) if all blinds are drawn; 2) all doors are locked; and 3) loud groaning is masked by appropriate use of the volume control on the classroom’s closed-circuit TV set.

For Carol Novack

36133613 views4141 comments4040 favs

Touching one of these special stones will bring out your own unique song.

Christmas Potluck

949949 views11 comment11 fav

"I see how little kids might find you creepy," she says between red velvet bites...

The Broken Lily

12401240 views22 comments00 favs

“What was that about?” Keiko asked as she gingerly separated the lily from the wrapping and the baby's breath and examined the flower. Keiko unbound the lily and noticed that the stem seemed strong. The flower no longer needed the support of the wire, and

We All Look So Perfect As We All Fall Down

14131413 views33 comments22 favs

My server wore cat's eye glasses, a Wonderbra that made her breasts like the embryos from Alien wanting to burst their way out of her Hooters t-shirt but couldn't.

HOMELESS OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

17251725 views1010 comments1010 favs

Only the occasional kindness of a stranger,// The curve of his back, a slope rushing past me,// Is luminous, the coin pressed in my hand . . .//// And yes, I beg.//// I open my palm// As Jesus did.//

So Sweet

12911291 views44 comments22 favs

    I met a girl so sweet, So sweet that she could Break your heart   No girl, no one should Be so sweet So sweet that she melts My depression   Increase my anxiety   No one should be so sweet   More like a little girl Than her 25 years   If…

At the Christmas Carol Bar

892892 views66 comments55 favs

I’ll take my Christmas carols neat-

Arcana Magi Pure - c.4

13901390 views00 comments00 favs

The stone floor was cold and the sky above had a purple haze. The setting sun hid beyond the trees outside the crumbled walls. Vines reached over the well as if it grabbed it like hand.

I Saw God in a Wheelchair

14961496 views44 comments22 favs

I saw God sobbing in a wheelchair His legs didn't work and He had no hair I saw God sobbing in a wheelchair Nobody else was there Nobody stopped to stare Nobody seemed to care

Windows

11381138 views00 comments00 favs

The Kid, The Executive, The Doctor, and The Actress.

Self-Portrait of Someone Else (excerpt)

15731573 views77 comments33 favs

Recently I think I became someone else. When the alarm clock rings in the morning, it sounds sharper than usual; getting up, my feet don't seem to quite touch the floor; looking into my bathroom mirror, my face seems to be melting, sliding, my eyes dri

The View From Jeremy's Butt

677677 views00 comments00 favs

“The usual,” he says, casting implicit scorn on Boston’s B–or is it C-list?–scene. “There’s a TV weatherman who’s trying to impress a hot babe at the bar with the ten-day extended forecast.”

The Grand Inn

10091009 views22 comments11 fav

I saw blood. The walls of the bar were completely covered in red shag carpeting. Had I been thrown back in time to the Seventies? It felt as if I had entered Hell itself. No, this was not Hell. This was the Aryan-Brotherhood's version of the movie Shaft. I…

learning to unread

803803 views00 comments00 favs

what happens to literature's characters when their readers traverse the veil?

Still Life with a Bottle of Olives

17251725 views88 comments55 favs

On the table the image is by Chardin but the puzzle is by someone else and that is what he has dumped out of the box.

The Explosions Sound Like Gunshots

26722672 views1212 comments77 favs

The explosions sound like gunshots. Antonio Gattorno, absorbed in his work, flinches. He curses as he smears the brush across the canvas. He’s been painting since mid-morning. It‘s a hot summer day. Tomorrow is the fourth of July.

Pirate

15651565 views1111 comments77 favs

When I got out I didn't buy a new suit of clothes, step into a bar, or bargain for an hour with a whore.

strannikov's High Definitions

20502050 views66 comments44 favs

Human being: a fruit or vegetable with animal aspirations and a mineral destiny.

Daylight

13761376 views1111 comments1111 favs

not to free ourselves// from suffering// but become the window// through which it sees//

Around Close

13181318 views11 comment11 fav

You know moments like these. You know how your mother ruins them.

Cups for Saucers

12291229 views55 comments55 favs

They were everywhere walking right above us or so it seemed, back and forth, back and forth with their lousy, crunching heels making hollow chewed up noises that took all the sweet sounds left on earth and had them march along…

We're Pieces of God & We've Found Each Other

587587 views00 comments00 favs

The gates going up and down like gigantic windshield wipers to let the existent boxcars pass. We went across these real bumpy railroad tracks into a town so small there wasn’t enough room for the car, so we got out and went ahe

The Officer Gets Breakfast

10351035 views22 comments11 fav

The officer’s eggs and bacon rested on the asphalt amid shattered ceramic and boot heels.

The Deli Worker

15311531 views11 comment11 fav

This is the story of my friend, Gil

Double Helix

10391039 views55 comments55 favs

Violence and property

Reince Priebus

238238 views00 comments00 favs

Reince Priebus is the leader of the Ko-Dan Armada.

The Swans

11361136 views00 comments00 favs

The struggling creature opened its beak and let out a shrill cry before both parents moved in and, using their webbed feet, forced its head back under the surface.

The Gift

11651165 views00 comments00 favs

This was the anniversary of the chairs. He would celebrate tonight for the chairs, and the chairs would welcome him.