Recommended stories

Okatooga Warhammer

16861686 views33 comments22 favs

They looked like girl’s jeans. Matt held them against himself in the mirror. Not that girl’s jeans were a mark against them. Usually, girls had better jeans anyway. Matt took two of the biggest pairs out of the big chest in his grandmother’s back closet.

Boxes

15111511 views22 comments11 fav

His voice isn't familiar but his words are. He says he knows we haven't spoken in years and apologizes for it. I can hear him pacing on the other end of the line, tapping things and then a shriek of glass shattering. Really, I tell him, no need to…

Kitty

14101410 views11 comment11 fav

One winter day, walking home from work because his old Honda Civic refused to start out of sheer laziness, Martin found the cat in the alley behind his apartment building. It was terribly thin, with a swollen belly. It twirled around his legs, pleading with big…

The Evacuation Queue

15151515 views33 comments11 fav

The ticking must have gone on for an hour before Kathy realized it wasn't a clock. When the line finally moved, the rhythm changed. When the queue stopped again, she glanced behind her and noticed a woman in torn jeans and a filthy sweater tapping a heel on the…

Acute Amusement

10121012 views66 comments00 favs

Nostalgia is irrational.

The Random of It All

12851285 views33 comments11 fav

When I bumped my head I almost fell to the ground Not so much stars As flashes of lights That looked like sparklers My mother chasing the dog She never catches it The cat sits on a nearby chair It's head moving as the dog does …

Paul Shaffer's Gold

18151815 views44 comments11 fav

Paul Shaffer and his cloned henchman Mini Paul come rattling through the early morning sky in a modified World War I biplane.

gravelortian part 21

10771077 views22 comments22 favs

Happy is a look we are trying to wear better

Master of Puppets

15281528 views22 comments11 fav

“There’s enough food to last here a week.” Ferdinand assured, as a dingy wooden cabin came into view. They were on foot now. He’d insisted on forcing the car into a ravine, using a heavy rock and the last of the gasoline to drive it into a heap of rusted

The Better I Knew Her, the Less I Liked Her

12111211 views44 comments11 fav

As I looked in her eyes She told me— she liked to pull wings off flies.

Reflector

11601160 views22 comments11 fav

I circled about six times - mesmerized by the sign that said you needed socks. Just passing through it said - As I made my third pass I thought - well, aren't we all.You looked cold. Fragile. And younger than the wrinkles that engulfed your hands, neck…

The Echoes of Infinity

15241524 views22 comments22 favs

Marilyn turned the kayak away from the target ship, barely visible after all these years, toward the shallow waters by the shore. She recalled her father holding her hand at low tide, as she looked up at him and he told her…

GUNS

11431143 views22 comments22 favs

I'm gonna buy a gun.

No More Ideas

10491049 views22 comments11 fav

And then, one fateful day, the world ran out of ideas. The last one was gone, floating away like a balloon full of the helium we had already squandered.

A Spark and a Flash

18351835 views44 comments11 fav

Butchie was the one who heard about the bonfire happening over on Harrison Avenue.

Angels

24852485 views11 comment11 fav

Not everybody sees Father. Not Mom, not Dad, not even my little brother, Andre, and he see lots of things. Me, I need to.

Four Quarters for a Dollar Moon

15661566 views22 comments22 favs

There's a large tunnel that runs under my house. I can only estimate but it's not deep below the ground and that's what worries me.

Sixty words or less

15941594 views44 comments00 favs

She wakes up sad. She can't shit. She spreads out the foil. no creases. folds it in half. She puts the stuff in the crease. holds a lighter under it. A zippo. then smokes it. Well smokes the smoke. It's like kissing god or the…

Bring a Book

17611761 views22 comments22 favs

It would be great if next door to every restaurant, there was a 24 hour dental surgery. Then you could sneak in and grab a few magazines to read if you’re unfortunate enough to be dining alone.

The Condescending Skies of June

13561356 views22 comments22 favs

I have become a prisoner of my own fractured mind/ A paranoid weirdo behind the horizontal bars of window shades

Mississippi Blues

21132113 views22 comments11 fav

“Jus’ because a story told right don’t make it true,” he said. “Sometimes the story is there ain’t no story. Sometimes you look way down inside, and ain’t nuthin’ there. Can’t write no book ‘bout nuthin’. Won’t sell none. But them

Outside Saltillo

6969 views22 comments11 fav

A poem.

Assay the Assail

18791879 views22 comments22 favs

No one is a Puritan under all that powder!

When Will the Poetic Violence End?

13011301 views44 comments11 fav

Some corners of the world seem to be consigned to an eternal hell of never-ending strife. The Middle East; Northern Ireland; the faculty lounge at Oxford University.

The Story

14051405 views33 comments11 fav

He pronounced the Afrikaans word with the vowel sound like the vowel in dour. It meant box, but it also meant cunt.

Myra's Lighthouse

14171417 views22 comments22 favs

I’ve been mentally cataloging all the various ways Myra has fucked me up. I know this is a dangerous game, strapped to our seats inches apart and hurling down the road at 70 mph, but I can’t help fiddling with the fuse.

Thank God the Sixties Are Over With! Is All I'm Saying

13311331 views66 comments11 fav

I am surprised that you’re not famous already. I remember sitting in your bedroom for hours just watching you while you wrote poetry. I was in awe of you, thinking you were going to be the next Dylan Thomas! Or Bob Dylan. Or Dylan Somebody! And I rememb

The Passing of Odd Fellows ---- Tales From the IV

11901190 views22 comments11 fav

The appointed day came without much fanfare. The day was gloomy, but it would do. They climbed to the roof of the house to a small landing where Smiley placed the tiny piano stool smack dab in the middle. As soon as Ethan sat down Smiley rotated the chair

Clinch Park

12461246 views33 comments11 fav

There was nothing on the lake but a / faint sailboat and a shadowy gull.

Five Million Yen: Chapter 8

16191619 views22 comments11 fav

He finished the omelet and started in on the short stack. He drowned the cakes in syrup. -Never can have enough syrup.