Recommended stories

Good Old Days

13521352 views44 comments44 favs

That night, when Nostalgia knocked on my door just before dawn, I had just enough time to catch her coat as she slipped it off and staggered into my apartment.

The Dances

15341534 views66 comments33 favs

". . those incandescent secrets she would pepper in. The sister who ran away."

Responses to a writing prompt on story structure, filled out moments after learning of my girlfriend's affair

32233223 views88 comments22 favs

1. Main character: Promiscuous girlfriend. 2. Main character's goal: Wants to have a lot of sex. 3. Obstacle: Has boyfriend. 4. Character's idea of a solution to the goal: Cheats on boyfriend.

She Waited for the other Shoe to Drop

16191619 views44 comments44 favs

She Waited for the other Shoe to Drop

CHINTZ PICKLE

12681268 views44 comments44 favs

What if she doesn't take me seriously? My sweaty testimony wedged tight behind the tragic I used to think was honest? What if, right? What if . . . Isolation Real men feel that, right? They have …

Norm Never Says

17311731 views88 comments33 favs

He was supposed to be a garden gnome. Give pause to the squirrels, keep an eye on the impatiums. We found him at Wegman’s. He looked hopeful and observant.

Moriarty lets her hair down

15321532 views55 comments44 favs

He did not hear her enter the room...

Her Smile

13181318 views33 comments11 fav

The white and yellow are sublime and desperately powerful, like angry screaming over tears and through laughter or hatred. Maybe the words are about crying or laughing, but the expressions are altogether impenetrable and distant. The jokes told behind the teeth and through…

Overheard While Buying Tires in Willits

18361836 views66 comments33 favs

She breezes through the door, cellphone to ear, with the confidence of the affluent. Can you look at my left rear tire, the dashboard indicator says it's low. Back to her phone, Oh, Marsha, hi, how are you, you gorgeous WOMAN, you!? Hey, I'm on my way to…

Lover's Spat

15471547 views55 comments44 favs

“You haven’t been listening, have you.”

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

16241624 views99 comments22 favs

Cat's ass was on fire. The roof was scorching hot. Her clothes were in a pile by the door that led to the roof. She was sitting next to the ventilation duct, her hands outstretched behind her, her knees bent before her. Jim was standing in front of…

The Vitality of Stones

13531353 views55 comments33 favs

we can’t hear the hum/ and the heat is imperceptible.

Pilot Wannabe

11851185 views44 comments44 favs

We were both looking up at the rainy sky, while the big jet barely moved through the clouds, coming in for a landing at Oakland between storms. It sort of reminded me of 911, the way they just seemed to hover above us, barely moving, like they were poss

Why We Need To Keep Writing

17481748 views66 comments44 favs

We need to keep writing because the great ones aren’t always that great We need to keep writing to insure that the future even has a future We need to keep writing because the wind won’t know how or when to listen if we don’t

November 6th

13631363 views44 comments33 favs

Need not remember, the 6th of November.

The Conversation Killer

17931793 views66 comments33 favs

I stand corrected once more.

The Wave

937937 views44 comments33 favs

Crispcrashingcoldan interlude from youThe pebbles pulled back and forthlike side stepping nailswhite frothan interlude from youThe sun likeA camellia for herCrispColddropsflicking on her face.An interludefrom you.

The Caveman Attends the Symphony Without His Club

20012001 views88 comments33 favs

“Would you consider renewing for the next season?” “We’re not interested.” “Can I ask you why?” I considered my reply. I was thinking of mincing my words. The man on the other end of the line seemed, how should I put this, somewhat s

Mystery

18161816 views33 comments33 favs

In a corner of a neighbor’s land too stony to till Cob makes a mystery.

Indestructible

10761076 views88 comments22 favs

With furrowed brow, he took the plastic stems and began to beat the blossom ends against the black brick wall.

Making Waves in Sculptural Math

11191119 views55 comments33 favs

It was a summer full of rage and discontent. The air had a new taste to it, reminiscent of the tang of battery acid.

Chalky goes to night school and studies the Classics

13671367 views55 comments44 favs

I don’t even want to think about Aethra shtupping Posiden and Aegeus

Silent Now, Against the Wash of Time

12071207 views77 comments22 favs

Let us both stand steep, alone, this night; the tide Lies, hastening to us: and, far away, I hear the sea gulls sweep, through the divide That shapes drear skies, between dead lights of day. What worth was love? Man severs all he is, To make one…

Syntax Connections

14831483 views33 comments44 favs

Consider this. Only a sentence ago we were complete strangers, oceans of time, distance and thought between us.

A Writer’s Ramble

16781678 views77 comments33 favs

In every writer's room there is a bogeyman born in the closet, growing with every blot on the virgin sheet, feeding on the pain of writing, of solitude, the failure, the rage, the confusion, the helplessness, the fear, the humiliation. The narrower the…

Is That a Floating Postcard over There in your Shirt Pocket, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

973973 views66 comments22 favs

We came wind-milling together ,up and over the blue and yellow stone bluffs, like a couple of empty yet racing nowhere fast plastic grocery bags, catching onto everything and anything in our way, and desperately trying to get free again,…

All About You

12571257 views77 comments33 favs

Sometimes you want to strike out at me. What is stopping you? There is no stopping you. You know I will not retaliate. Gone is all that I will be to you then.

Painting with Big Mama

15851585 views44 comments33 favs

I still see Big Mama leaning over her garden to pick a zinnia to put in her still life. Her old pink slip, hanging diagonally a foot under her hiked up, ragged, stained dress, half covered by her paint smock, which matched her white, faux fur, bedroom sli

Having Read the Poems of Matt Dennison

18091809 views77 comments33 favs

Having read the poetry of Dennison I hereby give up writing.

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 37

16231623 views66 comments33 favs

—Frank, how is your sex life?