Recommended stories

When the Translator Disappears, the Translation Withers and Dies

22872287 views3333 comments2626 favs

She pined for the return of the trans­la­tor who / became mes­sianic in her eyes.

Roadside Attraction

15331533 views2626 comments2020 favs

There is a certain stage of sobriety among men who drink every night. In that stage, they are their best selves: they write novels, fix cars, care for their young. Then they change.

The Daughters

21472147 views3535 comments2525 favs

Their mother never teaches them to wipe front to back or to brush their teeth before bed.

The Truth Will Out

18281828 views3232 comments2424 favs

sorry I didn't inform you (missing cap) about my trip to Spain, (comma splice)

Bone Dust Disco

24992499 views2222 comments1818 favs

He stands at the 53 bus stop, boy shadow dust-cloaked and fading, jangling her keys in his pocket, echoes of a journey cut short.

Lettie in the Ozarks

21932193 views3333 comments2727 favs

Lettie picks wild grapes from the vines that twist between thorny bushes. If she's really hungry she eats dirt and all the things that live in it.

Dr. Doom

20262026 views4141 comments2323 favs

I passed out one night while I was standing at the sink brushing my teeth.

After this last death,

15731573 views2626 comments2222 favs

After this last death, I lose at musical chairs. Rough strangers shove me toward the carved door. Feeling fierce, I yell, “Don't push me!” House racked with noise, smells, rushing, I turn the…

Raisins

24502450 views3131 comments2020 favs

Sylvia used his computer to write two-page stories about women who killed themselves with blue pills because the shirts came back from the laundry unpressed and their husbands stayed out late with secretaries. Every story ended with the image it began.

Lost Love Poem

19001900 views1919 comments1313 favs

Was that the door slamming?

Charlemagne

19191919 views1616 comments1717 favs

We descended directly from Charlemagne

Waiting for Big Bird

33753375 views88 comments99 favs

Jonathan jumps up from his seat, knocking over his mug of coffee, when Mona tells him she thinks she is in labor.

Godot is a Heartbreaking Figment

36953695 views2222 comments1717 favs

Godot is on the way.

Perfect

20132013 views3030 comments2121 favs

"My mother loses patience when I get sad," I said. "She tells me about the dog."

I Had Time to Kill

28532853 views2121 comments1515 favs

I had time to kill. I got on the merry-go-round, letting it go slow, thinking of starting blocks, how I might push off them.

Night at the Reservoir on Airline Drive

17941794 views4444 comments2626 favs

Del and I watched my brother toe his way to the edge of the cottonwood branch that arched over the reservoir.

Dancers: Summer '69

16901690 views2828 comments2424 favs

The locals cut stone in quarries, built elevators at the Cummins plant in Columbus, or brewed shine back in the hills between Bean Blossom and Gnaw Bone.

Pieta

17891789 views3737 comments2525 favs

Come home, my love, and live.

The Fault In Our Three Stars

21342134 views2121 comments2121 favs

So there are these teenagers and they're all dying of cancer, or at least were dying of cancer, or might be dying of cancer, and then a couple of them fall in love and lose their virginity to each other, and these teens, they're all smart and charming and only a little…

Help Me Own You

20222022 views3434 comments2323 favs

I wrote a fucking poem about you And you’ll like it

Mocking Bird

19721972 views3333 comments2424 favs

There were always mocking birds around my house.

Kin of His

13681368 views3030 comments1818 favs

I dreamed that coffee grounds had spilled on my Buffet. There was another clarinet, a silver one, that belonged to a man not in the room, that was clean of debris.

After Bukowski

20872087 views2828 comments2121 favs

The night she left she claimed she fucked Bukowski.

Red Fox Rampant

21432143 views3232 comments1919 favs

Shit, Marcie, I thought you were taking something. I mean you did say you were on the pill. I don’t want no screaming brat. Get rid of it.

Assholes

338338 views5353 comments2222 favs

Assholes are assholes who do asshole things.

Milkshake And Fries

20182018 views3636 comments2424 favs

Dexter is a demon. He called me an over-accessorized hot spot yesterday evening and FYI: he didn’t even kiss me. I slammed the door and left my own apartment. I slept in my car.

Three Micros

21452145 views3939 comments2424 favs

He'll tell you if you listen long enough the words run together like the teeth of a zipper.

The OD & Hepatitis RR or Bust

47974797 views1212 comments1212 favs

We got this new group man--it's dynamite! I'm up front--no more bass--just front man--and this cat Jack on lead and Stokes the drummer and this outasight piano--he used to be with the Dead--

Red Can't Even Grab a Starbucks

19051905 views2525 comments2424 favs

I see his look, his impatient look.

Dinner at the Whorehouse with Geraldo Rivera

15231523 views2626 comments1515 favs

wear that short skirt and those high-heeled boots