Recommended stories

Ten Amazing Don’t-Miss Writing Prompts (Especially Number 6)!

26302630 views3131 comments2424 favs

Write a list of what's wrong with everyone else.

Le Sucre Brun

24202420 views6363 comments2727 favs

The commandant pried her lids open with steely thumbs.

The Names of Things

27892789 views3232 comments1515 favs

She's having trouble remembering the names of things.

To The Woman Who Sat With Her Back To The Door

28752875 views1212 comments88 favs

Such a curious smell in the air tonight: part skunk, part fire, part rubber of your tire, pulled liquid hot across that road.

Common Password Profile Users: God, Love, Lust, Money, and Private

1238812388 views6666 comments2828 favs

She leans to see fresh bruises in dawn's early light.

The Sodomized Dictator

23972397 views2828 comments2929 favs

Ghosts.

Tips for the Prospective Superhero

17001700 views4747 comments2626 favs

Drop out of school. Buy a journal and keep a list of excuses. Run wind sprints and lay off the beer. Use teeth whitener.

1974, What I Wanted

29662966 views5757 comments2626 favs

If there had been arranged marriage in eighth grade, the grade it used to be and still sometimes is when children left school to work in the fields, I would have hoped that my parents would have arranged for me to marry Mike.

A Forest

26022602 views3838 comments2828 favs

Her mind was full of fresh air and swung like a bee over clover.

The Wall: A Love Story, Of Sorts

22122212 views4141 comments3333 favs

I need to get in and out, you say.

The Serious Writer and His Penis

19791979 views4747 comments2222 favs

Only strong personalities can endure such size, the weak ones are extinguished by it.

In The Lake

26782678 views5454 comments2929 favs

She says, “Put it there now.”

Watermelon

37443744 views5757 comments2828 favs

It was like the time we broke icicles dripping from the low eaves and brandished them like swords...

Someone Emailed Me Last Night and Asked if I Would Write About Nachos.

33963396 views2222 comments2121 favs

I fell into a crevasse once. I jumped off a bridge once, right before a train was to hit me. Jumped off roofs several times. I have a thing for jumping. The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to nachos.

How To Rescue A Drowning Man

34613461 views2020 comments1111 favs

Maybe you should consider a few more things before embarking upon actual rescue, like: Is the victim hot? Not stove hot, idiot. Beauty hot. Will this be a triumph to save this person (like perhaps they are some Nobel laureate), or are you risking you

My Life In Five Paragraphs

32943294 views1616 comments99 favs

The first punch sent me flying into a Christmas tree. The second put me on the floor on my hands and knees, blood dripping from my nose.

Almost There

26432643 views3232 comments2323 favs

...children live in the moment like no one else. Which is a good lesson for us all, especially when crossing an ocean. Because out here you are alone with the rhythm of your thoughts and the ghosts of your past.

Headstone

25212521 views3939 comments3131 favs

On the ground deputies comb the back roads. Border Patrol scouts from the air

Simulacra

21382138 views2929 comments2323 favs

*** Winner of the 15th Glass Woman Prize. Thank you, Beate Sigriddaughter.

Sweet Sounds of Home

23402340 views4040 comments2727 favs

Father makes sure the rum is safe, and still down, on his ass, he unscrews the top and takes a slug, and then a second one.

Descanso

23032303 views3737 comments3030 favs

Lupe says stealing is bad whether it's from a Baptist or a Catholic.

Piece of Mind

44384438 views99 comments88 favs

Samuel wondered if Megan could hear the brains humming, but like so many of the questions Samuel had for Megan, it was difficult to find the right moment to ask.

Requirement

20152015 views5757 comments2727 favs

She sits at home, on the floor of the kitchen, bathing her stuffed animals in molasses to match the ones on the news.

An Admirer Visits Paul Bowles

25972597 views3333 comments3030 favs

I dropped out of college and flipped a coin, a 1929 half-dollar, and decided if heads, suicide. If tails, a life of perpetual travel.

Stephen King Stephen King

26982698 views3232 comments2020 favs

In the early years, we never got tired of playing Stephen King. We played Stephen King at home and we played Stephen King in restaurants, shopping malls, airports, and hotels. We played Stephen King so much that we could have turned pro.

Sisters

24002400 views5252 comments2727 favs

The gun is heavy. The tiny women hold it in both hands.

Another Version of My Life, in Which I am Played by Meryl Streep

28582858 views2424 comments2222 favs

Rerunning, now it's published.

My Crush on Daniel Ortega

38083808 views3232 comments2626 favs

Time advances. One space between words, two between sentences. When I'm not working, I rehearse the language of newspapers: teez, pica, reefer, jump, hed, sig.

Baby Hater

27242724 views2626 comments2525 favs

You leave your husband and go to the nursery at 2 a.m., painted so cute, go to them, and that’s the only place you want to be, and there’s no chance to leave, or trust they will be okay if you turn your back on them. They won’t. SIDS. Meningitis. A

What He's Poised To Do

43554355 views2727 comments1919 favs

The man is not happy at home. When he sees his wife or his son, he knows that he should be, but he is not.