Abandoning my sandwich yet again, I dialed 911. "Sir? Are you okay?" I emerged from behind the counter as the operator picked up. "911, what's your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance at Rotten Tomato's souvenir shop on Presley."

"What is the nature of the…

You seem so happy with us

What we are

Where we stand

On this slippery icy slope

.

I don't know how to tell you

About my growing fear

That this is too good to be true

That this ethernet of safety

Won't hold our tangible weight

.

We can dive so deep

That I…

I walked through your ear drum

Headed straight for your Parietal Lobe

Deliciously discordant echoes bouncing

Through the hallways of your soul

.

I strolled into your Frontal Lobe

Music wafting in louder from

Somewhere beneath your bleeding heart

I glance…

We're standing on ice

Two separate blocks surrounded

By ice water that might as well be

100 miles apart

And yet I'm tempted to look

Beneath the waves of

Our shallow conversations

To see if our icebergs are one

I want to swim past

Hellos and How-Are-Yo…

Sundown, NM - Authorities report that a 180 metric ton blue whale fell from the sky last night and crushed longtime resident Maggie Mae (89) as she slept.

Chief Mike Bartlett, of the Sundown Police Department, states that no credible explanation for the …

"Did you actually read my email?" I asked, apprehension building a bubble in my chest.

"No, I haven't had time. It was long."

My bubble popped. Embarrassment washed over me. What was I thinking? "Oh, well, nevermind."

"Sure, so about this story..."

I li…

He was in the garden when I found him, sitting peacefully beside a gurgling stream.

Over the sights of my pistol I saw him raise a hand - not imperiously but gently, as a request. The sunset was near, I knew, and such things are worth appreciating. So I …

Lieutenant Commander Morell watched twelve specks of white light streak away from the carrier. She tracked their departure, but was distracted for a moment by the captain's pacing. Her gaze drifted, the view detected the subject of her attention, and zoom…

My best friend works on a tugboat out in the gulf pushing barges loaded with tens of thousands of tons of raw materials.

I was having a rough day eight hundred miles away on dry land seven hundred feet above sea level.

Work was tiring, my children were…

Deep night air swirled visibly in departing tendrils of fog as I ghosted along the rooftops. Each footfall was light, as soft as a bird landing, and only the moon could see the smile that twisted my face as I ran. Muted bells chimed the midnight hour from…

“Well at least this place has a real bed. Stay comfortable, I'll be back.” Lenn said to Liv. He stepped into the dark hallway to the staccato hoarseness of Liv's muffled coughs. She sounded so miserable. He needed to get his hands on some kind of cough su…

Sheriff Briggs eyed the man leaning against the dark Chevy. The pocket of tobacco in his lip had started to sour. "Been round here long?"

"Nope, just passing through."

"Hunting?"

"Nah. Wouldn't know what to do with a deer if I caught it. Hate to waste …

"So this is it?" she asked, "one drop in here and it's all over?"

A short pipe stood up from the floor of the dark warehouse, twisted metal piled haphazardly around like so many broken bones. She peered through it into an incomprehensibly large tank. The…

And yet, nothing is ever new.

..............................

Transpacific diplomacy warming, like global climate.

................................................................................

My steps make little noise as I move gingerly between the bushes. As I survey my surroundings, my thoughts wander.

In the village, hunters are respected. We risk our lives to provide food in this hostile land, where killing animals is our only option. Our…

Story is marked as mature

Lamar took a chocolate drumstick out of the waist high freezer and spun out the door, leading with his shoulder.

“Be back on Friday.” he called back to Ashish.

The Indian man didn't say anything, returning only a long suffering look. As Lamar turned awa…

It's dark and the rats are eating my sleep. They feast on my lack growing fat and fearless. I've been in bed for three hours, tossing and turning, and each time I slide from consciousness into that darkened stage of the first dream, the crinkle of paper o…

At some point the redolent scent of moisture reached our noses, clinging to the air around us. Soon, it became apparent why.

We reached a section of tunnel that was damp and cool, moist with condensation that itself brown and foul-smelling. We avoided to…

We traveled again, the tunnel growing narrower and wider at sporadic intervals. At times we were able to walk side-by-side. At others we were forced to move one behind the other, and when we did, we each took turns leading the way forward. When you led yo…

I'm pretty certain now

That I just can't do this anymore.

It's not some talent I found,

But a skill I had forged

In a fire of restlessness

And self-doubt.

Somewhere i found a voice

Instead of lines on a page.

So I made the choice

To put aside this way

Of…

When I look around me, the world is sunny, despite the real weather. When I think about you, my heart is content in the knowledge that you are right where you are supposed to be.

I am balanced, centered, and able to accept things as they are.

The best…

Wish you were here

In my shoes

In my heart

.

Wish you could feel

All the love

All the pain

.

Wish you understood

How I feel

How I ache

.

Wish you felt it, too.

Never have

Never will

You were at my side in an instant, an angel of light and beauty so magnificent that even now I cannot put it to words. You fell to your knees and cradled my head in your lap. I barely heard the slight pop of a vial being uncorked, but a second later a liq…