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The Ringlet

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Most of Carl’s neighbors considered him a lone taciturn man at best and an eccentric loony at worst. His neighbors knew him as the guy who left his house every morning at eight dressed in a suit and tie.

Never Sacrifice Yourself

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No matter how many times flies land on butter they will never become butterflies

Transmigration

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Much reincarnation

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 14

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Frank left Michiko’s building and walked into Central Park.

My Own Skin

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Chubby. Plump. Pudgy. Portly. Bulky. Buxom. Rotund. Ample. Hefty. Corpulent. Zaftig.

forgiveness

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she sees that no one has considered her needsshe feels left out, and so she strikes outon the offensive, nostrils flaringpoints her finger and makes her caseshe has been wronged, justified in her angershe will not back downthe accused one is hurtstrikes back with her own…

A Slippery Slope

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a distinct hardness that translates into solidity, and a lightness that translates into beauty, and I thought I’d find you there,

Ones and Zeros

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The radio sputtered, and did not stop, then from your eyes fell things light years from their meaning (a fall forever) intangible yet cogent mantras. My works full of silence, pools of water upon which nothing can reflect. But I shall…

Tattooed Thumb

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A tattoo of a river steamboat, one you dreamed up in your sleep and drew yourself is anchored around your nail bed on your thumb. I paint my nails with regatta sails. The toxic fumes sting my nose. You say you're bored and take out a needle filling it with ink. I watch as…

Strange Times

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From my place, down here amongst the earth, we have many names for you.

It's Legal Here

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You may think it's illegal Well, you'd be wrong, ya hear? Cause you're just in the wrong Neck of the woods And it's legal here Want some beer? Yeah, that's right It's legal here Don't go opening the door Any wider, I know You don't

It Seems You've Stumbled Upon My Bildungsroman

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Why yes I began writing this, my bildungsroman, Who is Mitsy Jackson, in spring, 1974 or thereabouts, and thank you so much for asking.

Three Degrees of Separation from the Same Thing We Were Still Supposed to be Thinking About

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It was hard to believe that, even very recently, there had been first days of school where nothing happened.

Professor University

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Is this a tenure track position?

Leash and Let Leash

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"I see you have a woman on a leash," said the man next to Bobby on the Greyhound to Chicago."Yes, you may speak to her, if you like, she may even answer you."The man glanced at Bobby to gauge his seriousness, took him at his word,"Excuse me, miss? Why are you riding the bus…

Lovers on the Lawn

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One day, every girl I’ve ever slept with showed up on my lawn.

vers libre inexplicable, mock sonnet, half villanelle

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this vaudeville world has turned all into stage— / the message appears on each screen and page: / every domain and institution—staged.

Words of Departure

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Not a fuss, not a stink, The eulogy, deep, will make one think, Grandmother, sat in back, will wink

Sleepwalker

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I may as well have been sleepwalking. Either way, I had no opportunity to admire the moonlight flooding into the long corridors, illuminating the stag heads and painted cheeks of long-dead ancestors.

Of Metastatic Analogues in the Brassicaceae Family

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Yellow glioblastoma in a vegetable brain-stem..Gentlemen, I give to you the cauliflower.

Out of sync

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I've been floating dearadriftI could not see you clearlythrough the tattered, hazy scrim the boundary between usmight as well have been a canyonyou reached for me anda vice tightenedaround my headI wanted to merge with youmy heart wished for abrilliant explosion of limb…

No One Was Watching

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What happens in life when no one is watching?

She Called My Poem Nice

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“There is no future in art, you will not change lives with flowery words. Please don’t rock the boat”

The Signal

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I take the plastic off of the last videotape and stick it in the VCR. I make sure the channel is on 6. Still a commercial. I get my notebook, turn it to the next page and write today's date on top. I get ready. I don't really like the back and forth banter the other news…

The girl from the café who wore black eyeshadow

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Nothing Much

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As a boy, he had little hope of ever becoming anything.

Wonder as the Sum of All My Ignorance

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Questions unanswered proliferate/ across the April sky, blue// with wisps of cirrus white.

On Unpredictability

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All that have changed in me, I give to you now.

Of Mugs and Men

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I want to break that mug. (Break him.)

Heat

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It was so hot we walked out on our husbands. There were reasons, we supposed. They left the refrigerator doors open all day, grabbing beers when they passed by, tossing the sticky caps upon counters. They drove their Metropolitans to buy food, leaving th