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5 Things I've Learned After 5 Years of Reviewing Small Press Books and Writing 2 of My Own

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In today’s print-on-demand and digital world, there are unlimited avenues for aspiring writers to circulate their work, but deregulation and limitlessness often leads to chaos. Writers are more inclined to release unpolished work that fails to rise to the

Mockingbird, Mockingbird

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I remember when I first came to California, I heard a mockingbird sitting in a tree, calling out in the names of other birds. It was down in L.A. I was staying at my brother's house in San Gabriel and driving in every day to the campus at UCLA to go to s

In Season

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He saw in her something fierce and wild and gently led her to his open palm...

Flash Gordon in Iowa

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I will show you how, in the spring, the sidewalks here look like a crossword puzzle resting under a glass of lemonade,

Cato

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She was the clerk in the photography shop.

Frogs

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The frog was splayed after its operation in the science lab, but not forsaken. He knew that his wife still loved him, even though he was in an advanced state of dissection. “Oooooo, Mdntf, let's hide under the table and touch tongues,”

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 27

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Bounder squirmed out of Francesco’s hands and ran into the kitchen.

It Takes Three Heartbeats For Me To Fall In Love

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...and 55 words to tell you about it.

Yogurt

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Later, you've hit that four shot espresso limit; you've snarfed down that too rich mushroom korma… gone before you tasted it.

Wolf Moon

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Keeper of the balance. Husband of the night.

(I don’t know how the nights can be so long when life is so short)

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But I think what I remember most was Lynda really letting me have it. “Right now I’m seeing this married farmer out in Western Illinois. I met him at this bar out there called the Peppermint Lounge. Boy, they sure know me out there! Funny how every town

Minnie Mouse Meets Mickey at a Convention of Phrenologists

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A parody of John Ashbery I have been preconditioned likewise by the ligatures of the roof. It has bypassed even the lightning. When I started this essay I (poetics equalling dissemination, like a toilet plug) admired, and I in the book produced…

Who Better?

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Who better to return to at the end of the day? Can't wait to get home. Empty my pockets and wash my hands. Who better to lift a glass at the start of dinner? …

The Houseguest

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"Who's that?" Carl asked about the man standing near the fence. "Says his name is Marty Lopez," Jake replied. "For real?" Carl moved to one side for a better look. "I know. He doesn't look like a Lopez," Jake said.

Open Face

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All the time I'm eating I can't help but think of the many different tuna melts I have ordered in diners and coffee shops and how each of them disappointed me...

s'mores

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hot, full focused, hypnotic

No One Else

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o

Acrobats

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What a beautiful day it was, what a wonderful day to lose one's mind. This is what you think going into it, that it is all a wonderful dream come true, and sure I'll have my hands full, but at the end of the day it will be worth something. If I hang in long enough,…

The Real Story Behind The Lipstick On Obama's Shirt

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The lipstick on your collar walked up the steps and through the front door, without a key. Her smile was hypnotically red and bountiful. The guards standing around didn't dare frisk her for weapons, her lips were weapon enough.

Ya Sure You Betcha (A Syttende Mai Challenge)

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Nora never dated Scandinavians.

The Pitted Leg

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Pick, pick, pick. Scabrous flesh comes off. Goes into mouth. Picking like a drone. This is my leg. It tastes a little salty. Iron apparent. Partner sits across the room, on his laptop, begging. I can't stop widening the pit. Partner goes to kitchen, eats…

Perdition

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There existed within them the deeper perdition, of course, the perdition of culture, American culture, the 21st Century suburban version, made up of Strip Malls From Hell.

Book of Genesis

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Almost to the elevation of regret.

The Nude Pianist: A Novel: Chapter 16

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Depression had Frank in its craw.

Test

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We’re safe as houses/ and unmoved. We grow/ accustomed to the sound

Roads Sign and Speech Acts

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Notice: No Trespassing. Warning: Falling Rock. Caution: Dangerous Curve. Declaration: I Love You.

Death of an Eikaiwa

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When I rolled him under the bed, I thought I would sweep him out later with arms curled up like legs beneath the shells of cicadas I used to gather from the laundry porch and set on the kitchen counter to scare my roommates. At least, I did that until…

i wouldn't give two cents for somebody to love.

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money ain't nothin next to lovin.

Grand Fury

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At some point, Spiro thinks, everyone must look like a sniper.

Five Breaths Or Less

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She flew through the air, linen skirt billowing around her. Below, her buckled bicycle was taking a different route. Less aerodynamic than she, its trajectory was brief, crashing into the ditch. Elspeth kept on flying. Time slowed, and expanded