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The Brazen Bull

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History is replete with brutally imaginative techniques of torture and execution, but I am the only death machine that doubles as a musical instrument.

Me & Sylvia Plath

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The parallels have become too numerous, and too striking, to ignore.

Starlight Standup

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They wink at me as if to share/ a cosmic joke whose punch line’s still/ a couple dozen light years out

"Hadrian's Farewell" as Tanka and Haiku

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Little rambling soul,/kind guest, friend: leave me laughing,/pallid stiff, and bare.

North from Laguna Beach

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I was Orson Welles skulking in the shadows and you Alida Valli; our time measured like footsteps advancing on Gethsemane.

Pebbles Against Empire

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Whatever you have,/ we can monetize it

Trans

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so much of what we know with certainty is amazingly uncertain

Iowa

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"It was John-Darren who once told me that he felt sorry for women."

Dinner, As Told On Twitter

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She sometimes ate her dinner standing up, in front of her living room window.

Theology of Forgiveness

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In my life when I am pursued / by some wildly delicate thing

Me and the Dowagers by the Five and Dime

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It's been twenty years since you left. I should call it a day.Even the Obeah woman said as much. But I don't listen. Instead I sit with old and proper ethnic widows in black, waiting for your return. One of them translates my story for the…

A Monologue About Skyscrapers

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Everyday the buildings seem to be getting taller and taller.

This Pretty Business

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Oh it's another one of those strange thrill rides slowly building from a buzz saw whisperinto cool morning's consciousness, coming on and crawling through the moon's mattress like a silver stream and under the dented pillow where…

stung

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Lust

Building This Thing and That Wall

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The world has long since been bootlegged by madmen. The new invisible con men are the same as the old visible con men, hiding and lying behind their walls of lingering death. There's a weapon wielding demon hell bent on an insane vengeance crawling around…

Ron Vara speaks out at last.

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He’s an empty sock

Writing Prompts

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If you want to be a writer, just write stuff.

Puzzles

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The man went into his backpack and pulled out his book of crossword puzzles. The deluxe edition with fifty percent more puzzles for free. It had been an impulse buy from the bookstore, cost him four…

Flutter in Night

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Have you heard this yet? The daughter flew home to care for the mother, whose pump is still tick ticking—though now with aid—which means she leaves the kitchen when the microwave clicks on.

Blood and Rain

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There's no rain--there hasn't been rain in weeks--but the clouds are dark without the sun, and I can't see the stars.

The Magician

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He now knew the impossible to be possible.

Mama

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So, I rough her up with sand paper, and hit her with chains, making dents. She examines her surfaces, tidily and efficiently, indicating the spots most in need of filling in with scratches and scrapes.

Saturday Matinee, Circa 1961

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We are impressed and cheer them on/ in their struggle against the wild/ and unkempt ravages of nature

FLY AWAY

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Why is the sky grey he asked meI don't know, I saysudden flashes of light snowbloat the cloudssea gulls are squawkingexpect them to peck at my headI have nothing to feed them

No Word for Enchantment

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fanned lashes on rouged cheek a glamorous sea creature in violet perfume

I Liked My Giant Friends

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When you say they were too big, too wild, they weren't too big to be giants. Giants are meant to dwarf things. They can't help it. They're not trying to make you feel helpless to give them a haircut. They just grow fast. But they…

love letter

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At night, I fold your name in origami doves and blow, hard, and you are disassembled come morning.

Our Travels on Fire

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We were offered mannequins that had pubic hair that grew and swirled, and could visit like a pet, and sit in your lap

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

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One of the women is a brassy blond, and when she takes off her coat, I almost choke on a French fry.

Black Coffee

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“I don’t see how anybody could do it.” “I could do it. I could do it because it ought to be done. When a thing needs doing, it’s best to go on and do it.”