Recommended stories

Win Some, Lose Some

16201620 views1010 comments88 favs

Afterward, at the motel, I asked her why she liked sex so much, and she said she liked the taste.

No Respect

14461446 views88 comments88 favs

I roll over on the gurney or bed or whatever they call it and pull down my pants and underpants. The nurse gives me a shot in each cheek.

One of Four

16011601 views1111 comments66 favs

She stood with her sisters, pretty maids in a row, felt cold despite the scorching spring sun. Heard what the man said but didn’t register; words from the Lord flew around her like the flighty trill of the robins up above. The birds made more sense.

Music Boxes

11541154 views88 comments55 favs

Mom would dig through one of her music boxes to pick out Saturday morning's cleaning jams. Tattered, battered Payless shoeboxes with lids ripped to shit, filled to capacity with piles of cassettes; greatest hits albums, mostly, or Time Life compilations of mid-to-late…

SERVICE

15421542 views99 comments77 favs

a girl with wolves, dogs and a bear

Oh, Little Bird, You Send Me

16231623 views99 comments88 favs

Who are all these rough looking people, hanging over me, itching me with their shaggy, grapevine arms? Like twisting, dangling down, painted, cloth Gargoyles on a quickly coming apart, dried up rope? It's always been the same old perch to view from. You wanted to know…

To my own two feet

15981598 views99 comments77 favs

When I first arrived/footling-breeched/you two were there/ahead of me.

Neither star nor killer

15581558 views1212 comments66 favs

I am fantasy

It's a Beautiful Banana Moon

17061706 views88 comments88 favs

and I can't help it if it is. I know it won't stay that way for long, but for now that's all I've got to work with, shining in my window, made of all eight fingers and a couple of thumbs. But the latest pushy words still want to give…

Rescue

17081708 views77 comments88 favs

I wake up with the taste of mud in my mouth. Ashy, sulfurous, charred, with traces of rotten shellfish.

For Rent

117117 views1010 comments66 favs

A writer was looking for characters for a new story and decided to rent out a room in his brain, thinking it might attract someone interesting. Given the poor real estate market, there were no takers, and he decided to offer the room for…

Rio, 1946

15731573 views1515 comments66 favs

Now his daughter was an American citizen and Max wanted only the chance to board the SS Maua and disembark in New York.

Tatters

19031903 views99 comments88 favs

They sat on the couch, and he tried to unbutton her buttons, but she fended him off.

Barrier Island

13681368 views1111 comments77 favs

At the beach house

What Happens In A Bed

14991499 views1010 comments66 favs

Eight days before her 50th birthday they were married in their soft new pajamas, holding hands on his bed in the hospital. The pastor and witnesses wore protective hospital gowns and gloves; the patient was in isolation once again. A special dispensation from the head…

Things to Do while Waiting for the Toaster

14901490 views1010 comments77 favs

For you have waited. And waited and waited. And soon your slice of bread will be ready.

Out of Character

15781578 views88 comments77 favs

Co-workers have started calling him Jesus, Manson, Foghat, Doobie Brother, hippie, hipster, Grizzly Adams, Dude Lebowski... there’s really no end to it.

White Legs

15911591 views1515 comments77 favs

...lotus roots carved with clunky holes like a mouse’s drawing of Swiss cheese.

black tulips

15501550 views1212 comments55 favs

the memories return like they do every year at this time

Father's Day

13381338 views1010 comments77 favs

“What do you want for Father's Day?” she asks. “Sex,” he says, his mouth curling at the corners, “and a bottle of Shiraz.” …

Artist's Statement: Oracle

14811481 views1515 comments77 favs

Mark Reep is a faded Polaroid oracle taped to the only unbroken window of an abandoned house in Ithaca NY.

Waves

13051305 views1010 comments66 favs

“still watersrun deep” is not my portionborn to make waves Formed from the ocean

Swoon

16251625 views88 comments77 favs

Tender veterinarian, even if you weren't so tall, or your eyes so warm, or your fingers so long, or if you didn't bend over my sick cat with such astounding grace, or shoot those quick, intense glances at me, I'd have woven dreams while in your uncommon presence. Vulnerable…

With My Eye

16911691 views1212 comments77 favs

my space heater throws a pale orange light my white candles flicker in the middle of the night

The Concord of This Discord

15161516 views88 comments88 favs

-Love is a rushing of blood

Don't Forget the Sun

23022302 views1010 comments55 favs

That’s when the inconspicuous-until-now janitor saunters over, glances down at their starlist and mumbles, “Don’t forget the sun,” and the astronomers all slap their foreheads and smile.

Paulie in Albuquerque

13101310 views99 comments77 favs

Savvy as a nine-year-old playing poker with high rollers in Las Vegas, that was Paulie. She'd finally thrown Dick Weasel out the night before, but that morning Diana'd shot down their plan of sharing the house in a “man-free”…

Real As Your Underwear

21532153 views99 comments77 favs

when unicorns took to flight / the poles shifted / the world flooded / and Pangaea busted open like calloused palm

Notes from Underground

17781778 views1212 comments77 favs

The end is rehearsed over and over;/ in a world without heaven all is farewell.

fork

22482248 views1414 comments77 favs

xxxxxx