Recommended stories

Chairs and Mirrors

18431843 views1616 comments1616 favs

There's a mirror in front of me and I thought it was so I could see myself, but I didn't want to see me.

Unseenly

15211521 views2222 comments1414 favs

Over the years, his face began to alter

Down Cellar

23122312 views2323 comments1212 favs

Down cellar, my father showed me where he kept his beer stash. It was in a cubbyhole under the bulkhead, where Mom never thought to look.

When the Muse Abandons You

15421542 views2323 comments1313 favs

I am abandoned to the mundane/ calculations of a small mind/ trapped by small considerations

Gabrielle in Arrears

18241824 views1515 comments1616 favs

You should be calling 911

Wednesdays They Pay Us, But Now It's Thursday

17551755 views1616 comments1414 favs

fire rolls through the drive-thru

A Quite Literary Catfight

30503050 views2323 comments66 favs

Cavett asked McCarthy what she thought was overrated about Hellman. McCarthy–never known to mince words–replied “Every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.'"

Regarding Viet Nam

15111511 views2727 comments1414 favs

At some point, my lottery number/ was in the mid 300s. I was safe/ for whatever reason. No need/ to burn my draft card.

Disposable

14991499 views1717 comments1414 favs

He was a liability. I knew I had to ditch him.

30 East Towards Texarkana

14851485 views1111 comments1010 favs

44 miles out the gauntlet of Red River pines cast shadows pointing north.

Sugarfoot Pond

19761976 views1313 comments1111 favs

i was jus countin' your heartbeats, Emmie and you know what? i think they's the same as mine!

Granny's Reform School Weekend Intensive Workshop, Session One

20972097 views55 comments66 favs

Being a grandparent is most joyous when deliberately subversive.

Middle Age

17451745 views1818 comments1414 favs

There are no city-chewed streets,/ only white and lilac blooming dogwood trees.

Interview

38163816 views2020 comments1414 favs

The ethnographer turns on a recorder. The story began before but that is lost, like it never happened.

Litter Box

16781678 views1616 comments1515 favs

When I died, she said, she was going to have me cremated and put my ashes in the cats’ litter box.

Dog Days

15921592 views1515 comments1515 favs

I dreamt I was spinning down the coast in a convertible. It was warm, and the top was down.

Hot Lava Carpets

33773377 views1616 comments1414 favs

"The carpet's hot lava," my son cries, pointing at the ground from the sofa."Yeowch!" I say, leaping next to him.We sit together for a moment, silently contemplating our predicament."We need to get downstairs," I tell him. He nods, but does not move. He stares at the hot…

The Pennsylvania Kaufmann House

15041504 views2020 comments1515 favs

Falling Water almost fell./ 12 million dollars later// it will splay itself a little longer

Space Junk Sounds A Hell Of A Lot Sexier Than It Is

567567 views1515 comments1212 favs

"Tell me more about your volcano obsession," he said. I told him about Pompeii. About the city frozen in time. And about the casts of people frozen in stances of eternal abject horror by a disaster they had no chance of avoiding, a disaster

Three Mississippi Fictions

43924392 views2222 comments1212 favs

When I was sixteen, my dad’s new wife and her daughter, Mary Ann, moved in, so I had to get out. I found a burned-out one story place on Corey Road near the gas plant. When it wasn’t raining, you could see right up through the roof to the stars.

Fat Man in a Blizzard

17381738 views1717 comments1515 favs

There he was. Minnesota Fats, short and pudgy, jowly and blond-haired.

The Esso Roadhouse

16601660 views2222 comments1414 favs

The night we crossed the Madres my father stuffed his Stetson full of cash.

You, the Correct Other, the One I am Looking For

19901990 views2323 comments1212 favs

You, the correct Other, the one I am looking for, you have exacting standards concerning where things must go.

Things Left Unsaid

23972397 views3232 comments1414 favs

I knew I was on the wrong bus, but jumping off was a death sentence. I was afraid, but by then I was used to that.

Haircut

25372537 views1717 comments1111 favs

She is cutting his hair. The wind is in her curls. She rises and falls like a sleeping animal. He has removed his shirt. There is a towel around his neck, the smell of spice and banana, the scent of vacations. You are reminded of the time in the beach house in Florida…

Damn Sure Right

18731873 views1515 comments1212 favs

The man had come up behind me and locked my arms backwards. I could feel his cock or gun against my low back. He told me if I moved he'd hurt me and he said did I know what that meant? I did know, however I was watching from…

Julie in 2004

14921492 views2323 comments1414 favs

She'd have to be careful, but couldn't you just see it?

Black Sweater

13381338 views2121 comments1515 favs

A small poem about incipient insanity

Help Me Rhonda

15431543 views2121 comments1414 favs

Walking to class, Paula routinely fishes around in her purse to be sure the condom she thinks of as a close friend, even naming it Rhonda, is in there to help her avoid a pregnancy yet, even so, Paula admits that sometimes she daydreams in that boring economics class,…

How Elm Trees Die

17741774 views3030 comments1313 favs

I had felt suddenly lighter and next thing I knew I was watching Leonard Tucker and Sister William from somewhere near the ceiling. I saw myself, too, at my desk, holding my songbook out in front of me like everyone else.