Most recent stories

Waiting for Fireworks

15711571 views00 comments11 fav

I take her hand. More grey dust rolls off the arms, over the railing, into the wind. It’s embarrassing and I let go. I think she told me to throw them away months ago. I rub her bare thigh. She laughs real soft like. The corner of her lip curls up.

In Distress

16751675 views55 comments22 favs

When a multinational big box furniture store opened just off the expressway outside the city selling all the same products at greatly reduced prices, they contemplated the possibility of closing their store.

In The Wake

15671567 views55 comments33 favs

Any form of exertion would defile what we are trying to do

No Party, No Disco

10751075 views44 comments55 favs

Ninety-nine to one would seem good odds

The American Dream: An Update

13501350 views00 comments00 favs

Last time I saw the American Dream was Tuesday, down at the Unemployment Office. He was looking pretty worn out, as if being unemployed for over a year was finally getting to him.

Stumptown Mary

19741974 views22 comments11 fav

so one time the Holy Ghost come down to Stumptown

I’m going and I’m never coming back

27812781 views22 comments22 favs

“Nag, nag, nag. This time I’m leaving and I’m not coming back.”

A Girl You Couldn't Hurt

13971397 views00 comments00 favs

He started to concentrate on the music again. It was the album with the crazy picture of Monk on the cover, with a machine gun over his shoulder, a tied-up Gestapo officer and a female resistance fighter standing next to—a cow.

Orpheus Today

17461746 views33 comments33 favs

It is only seven-thirty but the night is full, gloom seizing Highway 66. There is a carcass on the road, maybe a human, slumped next to an empty ice cream truck. Several stars hang up in the East, drunken constellations scrambling to find meaning.

Round And Round

13311331 views22 comments00 favs

"GROW A PAIR AND DRIVE! DRIVE!!"

Unemployment

891891 views22 comments11 fav

The line of the unemployed wrapped back on itself like an accordion pleat and extended all the way across a great hall You could see the faces of them, bluish and drawn under the dim florescent lighting First in

Every Moment Is Lovely, Yes

16661666 views22 comments11 fav

The man was happy, filled with it, the happiest he had ever been. He was so happy that he felt he did not deserve it and he deflated. A woman with apples for shoulders and an eep for a laugh told him that he did deserve to be happy and the man thought

The Celebrated Jumping Flippit of Tau-Ceti IV

19871987 views00 comments00 favs

One day me an' Elvis was down at the riverbank with Huckleberry, chasin' darters an' watchin' barges go by. It was a lazy day bein' a Sunday an' all. We had jest got back from Church an' Mami told me to change my clothes so's that I didn't get my Sunday

Mai Tai Daze

16311631 views22 comments00 favs

Some people hate Waikiki. Not me. Most hotels had lounges with live music, either inside or around the pool. Evenings were spent bar hopping up and down the strip, Kalakaua Avenue. The bars stayed open till 4:00 a.m. It was safe to walk…

Beautiful Girls

29412941 views1818 comments1818 favs

and all the beautiful girls are in the river And they went in dirty But they came out clean

The Rumble Strip

14391439 views44 comments11 fav

But, The Driver talked about speed. Something about pulling her off easy or we’ll blow our tires. “No telling what’s off that shoulder,” he’d say.

Berto and Cosi

23342334 views22 comments00 favs

Berto had come to live with me a month earlier. He’d been cursed by being the favored child of our parents. Their indulgence resulted in a 40 year old man and heroin addict from age 17 and all that accompanies such an existence such as thievery, larcen

Nancy's Brother

17531753 views44 comments33 favs

Nancy's brother, Ronnie would wait until church was out and pull the bench up to the piano play and sing show tunes, even humming them loudly if he didn't remember the lyric. Crooning away — as if he had the lead in a Broadway musical. Well, that was part of it,…

The I-Penis

996996 views22 comments11 fav

You’ll end bar-hopping once and for all You’ll never leave the house Steve took this one with him to the grave because he knew nerds everywhere would stop speaking to him Yes, that’s right, it’s the magnificent new I-Penis with built-in 10 m

Fish Boil

21222122 views1818 comments1515 favs

Put sunscreen on your / bones.

Baby, Baby...

30123012 views6666 comments3434 favs

Co-workers come in to pee or brush their teeth and the pump squeaks and from the stall, Ling says sorry…I'm sorry.

Nothing

15561556 views11 comment11 fav

I dream about the boy in The Neverending Story, the gate of mirrors, and the Nothing, a dark cloud that floats in the sky, takes away everything.

You Can Go Now

17871787 views44 comments55 favs

The summer when I was six and my sister Audrey was eight, she'd walk around our house pretending to be in a trance, fingers strategically hovering over my mother's vases and lamps, leaving smudges behind on my father's heavy oak desk and rocking chair. She'd lumber past my…

Thirty Seconds

12931293 views44 comments11 fav

That was all it took. Thirty seconds.Half of a minute.30: He was standing with me on the corner of the street, 29: waiting for the crosswalk to say it was okay for us to make our way to the other side. 28: The red "do not walk" signal changed to the white "join us over…

Happiness

24302430 views88 comments33 favs

Was I a dreamer? Was I asking for too much?

Emotional and Overheated Words Online Reviewers Of Lava Lamps Might Wish They Could Take Back

29092909 views77 comments44 favs

“In retrospect, perhaps I should ask my renter’s insurance to cover damage from lava lamp discharges. But I am not a person who enjoys a fracas.”

Vampires Suck

15911591 views00 comments00 favs

The little clapboard church sits stiffly in the sun. It's steeple marking time with it's shadow on the sidewalk. It is the last place most people would think to look for a vampire, but I am sure that one is in there. Contrary to popular opinion, there

Gogol vs. Quixote

17891789 views00 comments00 favs

“We all come out from Gogol's 'Overcoat'," said Dostoevsky. Well, sometimes, I think otherwise.

things to know about the people parked along the road that runs through Humboldt Park: part 20

13741374 views00 comments00 favs

I traced the vein that rose in her temple when she got angry all the way along her body until it ashed out varicosely on her smooth calf.

Charlie Rose Chats with Mark Twain

19531953 views1717 comments1212 favs

It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.