Boy On Display

Timmy ReedMay 17, 2017

I slept in a ball of my mother's bras as a boy - not a fetish, there was just nowhere else to sleep. We lived in the back of a department store. We posed during...

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Circles

Ryan FournierMay 10, 2017

You are doing doughnuts in the Walmart parking lot at 2am.  You can’t sleep.  You never sleep anymore.  The song “Methuselah Rookie Card” by Snowing is so loud ...

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Life in Numbers

Nick Lord LancasterApril 27, 2017

The number of years you have lived. The number of years you existed before you felt you had really lived. The number of cars you have owned. The number o...

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Ninety-Seven Minutes of Grief Measured on the Mohs Hardness Scale

Kristen PloetzApril 20, 2017

Diamond Sal’s socket wrench slips from his hand and bounces on the pavement. The main number for the nursing home flashes on his cell phone. His mother m...

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Captions

K. B. DixonApril 19, 2017

Above: A portrait of Phillip Hillwood painted by the doddering and much-acclaimed expressionist Malcolm Ulrich appeared in conjunction with a breathless story t...

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The Indecency of Killing Ants: Thoughts on Vivek Shanbhag’s Novella

Laura KnicklebineApril 16, 2017

Shanbhag’s novella begins on an exhale. A nameless narrator sits in refuge at a coffee house. He pins his gaze to the exchanges at other tables in attempt to di...

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Ted Danson

Andrew BoomhowerApril 6, 2017

You’re lonely and depressed; your grandfather died only a few weeks ago and now you have the house to yourself. It’s so silent that it bothers you, makes it dif...

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How to Get into Commercials

Ben CurttrightMarch 15, 2017

Depart early to save on booking. Swallow Dramamine at takeoff. Bump into dead businessmen in Chicago while connecting. Their faces are crumpled but their suits ...

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Five Different Ways of Doing Monday Morning

Jack SomersFebruary 23, 2017

Your phone alarm goes off at 6:30. You grab the phone off the nightstand, switch off the alarm, and burrow back under your quilt. All you want to do is stay...

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Reruns

Claire BricksonFebruary 22, 2017

“Daddy Norton has fallen and broken his leg,” announced Ryan Seacrest, grinning widely from the rabbit-eared television in the corner. “Turn that shit off, w...

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Alexa

R. E. HengstermanFebruary 7, 2017

“I'm feeling a little down today Alexa, Tell me a joke.” "Okay, what do you call single cheese?" "I don't know. What?" "Provolonely!" “That'...

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FURTHER CAUSE FOR DESPAIR

Jessica BergerJanuary 31, 2017

  Welcome. It has been quite a year. These last months, especially, have been difficult. We have had much to lament, much to despair, and while I wish t...

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An Accessory Before the Fact

Robert P. KayeJanuary 18, 2017

Somewhere in your neighborhood, a full-scale guillotine stands in a backyard. Maybe this guy—and it is a guy— lives right next to you. That suspicious structure...

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Active Shooter

Jillian MerrifieldJanuary 3, 2017

Step One: Wash Your Damn Hair By the time it’s over and the cops are done talking to you, the dye has been sitting in your hair for nearly three hours. You’ve ...

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ORION’S FEET ON THE WATER

Erik BosseDecember 29, 2016

  It was a warm morning towards the end of September and I’d gotten up before the sun to run for a few miles along the San Antonio River, just south of ...

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How to Write an Emotionally Resonant Werewolf Novel

Alex MillerDecember 14, 2016

1. Purchase a large notebook.   2. Think deeply about every werewolf story you know—every book, TV show or movie. Ask yourself what makes your ...

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An Excerpt from the Recently Discovered Text on the Creation of Man and Smartphone

Abigail PutnamNovember 29, 2016

In the beginning, it was dark. Man was by himself in the darkness. He might not have minded so much if there had been Wi-Fi and he were able to catch the Sunday...

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This is a Rush Transcript

Stephen LangloisNovember 10, 2016

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING - EP. #441   Aired September 18, 2016 - 15:00 ET /  Rutland Regional Community Television (RRCTV)   THIS IS A RUSH T...

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Dear Mr. Frank S. Monster, Ph.D.

Davis AllenOctober 18, 2016

Dear Mr. Frank S. Monster, Ph.D.— We received your official appeal for a reinstated passport (although you could not supply your old passport so I struggle t...

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A Letter to a Cloud-Rimmed Court

Ian GoodaleOctober 11, 2016

To Whom It May Concern: The revolver felt cool in his hand—the handle burning textured steel in his contracted palm, the barrel running down the length of hi...

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What Fresh Hell

Sarah KennedyOctober 6, 2016

The centerpiece of the main square is a one-eyed statue. He leans forward, hands extended though no one remembers he was once holding a tray. His jarring figure...

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Puppet Love

Kayla PongracSeptember 21, 2016

Triceratop—that’s what he told me to call him, however silly it sounded. Dressed in lion-themed cotton pajamas, Triceratop didn’t so much resemble a herbivorous...

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The Crumbling Stars

Rebecca HarrisonSeptember 16, 2016

Every night, we wrote down the names of the stars which had gone. So we could watch the skies, Nora brushed the star ash from our window - our parents still cal...

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Reply to an almost lover

Rebecca McKinnonSeptember 15, 2016

...

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In Response to Your E-Newsletter Re: Peter Gabriel’s Upcoming Summer Tour Dates

Matt MeadeSeptember 1, 2016

    To Whom It May Concern: This isn’t going to be one of those long emails.  Not like the others.  I am only going to say enough so that it ...

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roast beast

Bud SmithAugust 18, 2016

She sent me this YouTube video of a cat trapped in a house, that should be meowing/hissing, but instead somebody dubbed themselves going “heyyyyyyyyy” every tim...

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Just thought I’d share that with you

Nathaniel TerrellAugust 4, 2016

Deacon Jones: Nathaniel, why do I smell gas? And what are you doing with that torch? Me: I need the gas and torch to put something to rest. Deacon Jones: Son,...

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on every line i write the letter i, part 3

Wren JamesJuly 19, 2016

willard park is supposed to be the bad part of town. it’s supposed to be the bad part of town because a couple of black families live around the park. in my tow...

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Electrons Don’t Cry

Matt AlexanderJuly 14, 2016

“Have you ever felt so alone you wanted to cry, but the chronic nature of your ailment removed the tears' urgent imperative?” –Charles LaBonne   The swee...

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The Visitors

Mileva AnastasiadouJune 22, 2016

Crash. Boom. Bang. This was certainly not a song. This was the sound of a true collision. Everything went as planned in Alex's life until this sudden.... Ban...

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