816 4 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				in the chicken house
this morning. The second
one this week. I carry the stiff hen
out to the back pasture  
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1359 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				My flash kept going off. The museum officials are strict about such matters. Sans flash! Sans flash, Monsieur!  
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
928 9 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Can anyone remember what the Great American dream was? 
 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1378 3 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				When it was sticky cool at night, he'd pull her hair up off her neck and spin it like a pinwheel. “You could be anything," he would say. “You could be a preschool teacher.” She waited for him to add, “For dragons! For wallabees!  For… 
					
				 
				
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1879 9 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				The headlines were my source of information and contact. Four Soldiers Killed in Baghdad read one. Seven Ambushed in Fallujah. I’d read them, look for his name, and maybe clip it out. It put me there; put me in touch with him. 
					
				 
				
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1072 5 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				     with a finger I will (let you) know.     If you mean even just one given     look at the moon I will know that, too. If you     peel off one lonely star and put that     shining shell in your watch pocket for     later or to skip across your sad    … 
					
				 
				
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1276 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				“Kids okay?” I didn’t mean anything by it–it would have been innocent small talk any other time–but he took up the suggestion. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
898 6 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				It doesn’t shuffle, wrapped in cotton,/
hungering for love and tana leaves. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
8203 10 2 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				And as he looked at the departing pink cushion in his rear-view mirror (shaped like a canoe without the paddles), the latest big question popped into his mind like a hot slice of buttered brown bread from his shiny, metallic stainless steel toaster –  
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1773 7 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Every Friday night she gets liberated at The Haymarket Square doing a bunny hop   or a do si do with ex-members of The Saint Augustine Women's Choir. She   remembers how as kids, shy or awkward in dresses, their voices formed the   harmony, the flight of something V-shaped… 
					
				 
				
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633 4 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Rumors stranger than usual were circulating in Moskva. Naturally, they could not be confirmed, but they were making the rounds so thickly that they began spilling out of the capital.
“Putin has become a superman!” 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1636 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				The signal sets the faint young boys into motion 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1301 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Jenny was certain nobody saw her when she took the slinky shirt from her father's store. It was blue with buttons shaped like cherries, the fabric light as air. She balled it up in her hand.   Her father owned a chain of boutiques called Body Electric. The racks were… 
					
				 
				
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1067 3 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				irretrievably we tell ourselves stories
 
irretrievably as beaded water slides off our skin
 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1816 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				by the time he's moves onto knives, she has appeared in next door's window: sliver of nut-pale belly, fingers wet with suds, nails painted bright as glitterballs. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1611 6 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Down in the basement, as far away from the Arizona sun    As we could get, we were led by a man that loved   the word   Motherfucker.  He said this was where we belonged.  In the basement.       He told us science fiction had rules:  1.  Don't read anything… 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1716 7 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Why don't we do it in a yellow submarine?  
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1610 6 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				That’s what she left behind, and I put it in my mouth and swallowed. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1492 6 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Corina's skin is a circus tent. Her red-striped peppermint scars are a reminder of Christmas and family traditions. The obedient poodles of her childhood dreams jumped through hoops of fire until they became bald and grotesque. Poor dears, now, they no longer yap. They… 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
771 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				When Alex says “sorry” in that barely disguised Canadian accent, we call him an asshole.  
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1422 5 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				                 I sat at  the kitchen counter, aware of a heaviness, a numbness, in my flesh, my bones,  my mind.  My dancer's body -- short, trim  and 108 pounds -- felt as huge and unmoving as the… 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1289 5 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				He looked like a black paper doorway pasted onto a painting of summer. 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
2031 7 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				out here the land/speaks in Quaker silence 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1187 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Marcia 
Get a load of 
This 
I got two pictures 
Of food 
Of food 
Marcia 
You're gonna
Love it 
Look at this 
I got one 
Of just the salt and 
Pepper shaker 
God 
You're gonna 
Love this 
 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1715 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Our Lord Savior Google/ answers prayers without prejudice/ and leaves the self-hatred up to you
 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1622 8 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				love notes yellowed through the years 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1538 10 2 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				I had no portent this would occur, / 
Ne'er did I see this happening, / 
Not days before, nor those coming; 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1758 4 4 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1247 6 3 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				Her boyfriend is into U.S. presidents and professional wrestling. He is reading biographies of both occupations and says this helps him to appreciate gray area, decisive action. Lives of great men, he explains.
 
					
				 
				
			 | 
		
		
			
			
			
			
			
1214 5 2 
      
			 
			
			
			 | 
				
				He remembers, he touches,
he lifts and kisses the mouth.  
					
				 
				
			 |