1038 5 1
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The clip-clopping of footsteps now echoes from the opposite end of the alleyway, and as you turn to face the figure who appears behind you, the figure wearing a fierce Noh-drama mask, you determine that this time you will enlist its aid in decoding this r
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128021
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We received the news unexpectedly. The suspicion was true. The nausea and fatigue were caused by the honor of your presence in our lives. We had waited for you for years. We had prayed endlessly for the universe to bless us with your gift; with you as our gift. And…
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146142
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"I was hit by an Amtrak train and dragged a hundred feet, and I'm going to die from smoking cigarettes."
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104072
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She pulled the book off its shelf. It meant something else now. He'd quote her in the mirror, at the backs of buses that kept her moving, something she'd said without saying. He would remember for them. She'd forget, without him, the way she wanted. Garland and lights were…
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126871
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Homer relaxes in his tan, faded recliner, remote in hand, and watches death unfold on his television.
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100633
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my pilgrim tongue
on the map of
your body
seeks sanctuary
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91743
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You always liked the color of your nose, raspberry red. It matched the glittery dazzle of your rainbow hair when the neon lights hit it just right, and man did they always hit it just right, the vibrant honey-yellow big-bird frizz and feathers, swaying to and fro as…
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95432
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This is why I’ve decided to assign myself a position in life similar to that of Stuart Sutcliffe with the Beatles.
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55222
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“Have the tomatoes come in yet?”“Dottie…”Mrs. Dorothea Tilden pointed a trembling finger at Harriet.“You promised me tomatoes, Harry.”Harriet put her hands on her hips, a stance Dorothea knew well. One more sharp word meant fight; two…
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112721
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“Well, of course I served in the CIA . . . everybody did, back then!” he says with a grin. “Two goddamn bloody well years . . . I was a regular Nayland Smith, I tell you. …
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127722
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There was a man dressed in stately attire. His name was Abacus, which maybe you find strange, but then keep this in mind: it is, after all, just a name.
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1139140
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“I was just dreaming about you,” he said, sleepy-voiced. “What's for breakfast?”
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125632
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Harold Smithe awoke that Tuesday morning precisely at 6 am. He did this every day for as long as he could remember. Even on the weekends when his schedule varied. Well, varied slightly. He lay in bed trying to wake up and mulled over the things he needed to accomplish for…
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116532
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my fingers vibrate magnetic/
a humming void/
where my brain was
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88032
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In the sad suburban subdivision
with its cul-de-sacs and broken curbs
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194742
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I know I know how many times you want me to tell you I’m sorry, okay?
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90232
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It started out small: just a cup of coffee, purchased, and an extra one that I gave away.
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257422
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What if Walt Disney had himself turned into a cartoon?
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104842
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The cell was crowded, barely enough room to swing a cat.
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110952
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My wife makes coffee naked. Didn't used to. Back then, before the accident, she hated her body. Says that's why she gave it to me. She's serious about it too. The coffee, I mean. Developed a whole ritual around buying, measuring, pouring. Every day it's the…
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123181
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The dowdy woman in fart nailed the vim.
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11551
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Larry’s unwashed hands held a cardboard sign. Two largely printed words that would, every now and then, elicit a thumbs up. “Got Pot?” was the only question he really wanted an answer to.
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181492
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It's not that you want to be silkworm all your life. That's what I'm telling my on-again-off-again girlfriend aboard the plane. Her name is Phoebe as in that song about a girl who lived in her own world within the shell of another. Phoebe, I'm saying, to bridge distances…
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186133
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Eddie Dorsett was a dumb kid. Nobody could dispute it. More than that, Eddie Dorsett was a fat, slothful, whining, shilly-shallying, phlegmatic zero of a kid, the lowest of the third-graders for certain and a prime contender for the lowest of the entire R
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101171
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The new poetry
comes in shining
metal boxes
covered in glass
so you can peer in.
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136152
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John Lipkin took a drag off his cigarette and rummaged through his desk drawer looking for pot. There wasn't any. He remembered looking last night, but he looked again now. There wasn't a damn thing, just some stems…
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87123
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And you should know, every woman smiles at a man buying flowers, because … we can imagine. We can only hope.
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165972
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A lowing cow cracked open the darkened room like the yawn of a gravid alien.
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199142
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I lock the last of the beer and wine doors and head back to the cash register. Our clocks are not on bar time so I only have a few minutes. I check the till. A stack of ones and three fives. Enough to break a twenty, but looking bare. The parking lot's empty. The air…
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113343
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Nights this husband returned home still hungry sometimes, even for her forearms against his own
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