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Sonnet VIII, On A Lover's Birthday

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A short sonnet for my sweetheart's birthday.

A monkey puzzle rocket burst

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The things we do for books, she thought.

Cake

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There I saw a man Lowering his head Close to the plate And just wolfing down His cake And that was all he ate It was like Solace He was enjoying it So much

Harvesting Brains Pastoral

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A bawdy secretary languishes behind the farmer, translating the squealing gray matter and scratching her rectangular nose obsessively.

Frankie & Jake are Married (another novel castaway)

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Frankie married me during my theory stage. I hadn’t known her long.

Sounds

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They try to incorporate a little of Ravel around their edges, the ones where their molecules bump off into other parallel realities, into other non-localities, into other potentials. She isn't buying it. She's tuned in. And she can tell.

Pitspits

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a perpetrated fraud

No Ordinary Pig

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During the day we search for truffles. I have a pig named Henry. He is a big help. He wanders the forest sniffing for truffles like a parable of porcine inquisitiveness. He knows what he is doing. He is not just a pig. Nor ordinary pig. He is a French pig

No Dirt In Common

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I feel a strange loneliness for her...I think I will go to the beach, and forgive it for its sharp sand and lack of trees.

I Did Not Write This

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PhD's in remorse. Babes without eyes. Presbyterian church-goers baked in their pies. Miss prim-and-propers stranded on meadows. Men rescuing cats then queuing for medals. I did not write this, I swear I did not write this. Saurian…

Only Dreams

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Her smile like fortune’s cannot be coerced but she opens her peignoir. He stares at the sullen bullethole between her breasts, dark blood welling slowly with each heartbeat. Does he bow slightly, turn away whole? You suppose not. She closes the door.

Eggs

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still curious of the taste of eggs finally licking my plate

Rams, NFL's Smartest Team, Forget to Make Playoffs

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“I was looking for the review of the Alvin Ailey dance company when I noticed something in the sports pages,” says the 300-pound center. “All of a sudden it hit me–I should have been playing football."

Banana Creme Pies for Sixty Percents

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Suddenly the auditory havoc dies down and she falls into a loop, saying BANANA CREME PIES FOR SIXTY PERCENTS over and over.

I used to think the sun was the moon

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I imagined the sun to be the moon and discovered it was not on a road trip in California where I noticed the sun on one side and the moon on the other.

Flush

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“No one likes an indecisive sexual partner.”

Potentially Naked Waitress

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just wondering what one does when age and job skills narrow one's career options

66 W

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He said he'd meet me at the Lyric before curtains. For drinks. Only he didn't. Which was OK. The seat was softer, roomier without him. Buzzer rang, doors closed. His loss. Rusalka was clearer. More resonant. Vibrant. Better. …

Playing Boggle with Lowell's Mind

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lewd sinew swine

Urgent, breathers: Pee before reading this novel!

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A jollier zombie you shall never find. You must trust me on this!

WARNING: I Brake for Plastic Shopping Bags

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"...innocent butterflies of pollution trapped and entangled,"

Denouement

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No one has the right/ to script how someone dies.

Bat (n.)

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Flying mammal with thin membrane forelimb adaptive wings. Amazing number of species from fruit-eating to insectivores. All capable of landing in your hair at night.

Suspenders

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As soon as I got the suspenders adjusted I felt different. I felt like Wilfred Brimley.

Kai (excerpt)

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Kai,
 
Oh the mathematics of solitude. I wish your father there. I read your wanting subtracted between the lines. He is almost gone. Hallucinates, not awake even though eyes are open. Yesterday he saw the baby brother you never met. I light four ultramarine…

The Boyfriend

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As a boyfriend, he knows that such A.D.D. insensitivity could be considered a major liability in the eyes of most girlfriends, including his.

Mercury Unbound - 2

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An infested, indifferent universe . . .

Carrion Flower

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Jacabo gave the boy a can of beer with oxycontin and rat poison in it. He instructed the boy to drink and talk. Jacabo did this, fully aware that making ghosts was a costly enterprise.

Hotel Mechanics

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He switches to quantum mechanics and starts tinkering with his sleeve memorizing a theorem he'd figure out if he had the time for a deep breath, he takes a deep breath.

Double or Nothing

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Wednesdays were humiliating. Third graders had to bring in twenty-five cents for class dues. If you forgot, the teacher would write your name on the board and it would stay there until you settled your debt. My family could afford the weekly quarter; the problem was…