Fiction

I should not have been surprised when the man sitting next to me on the subway started to lean over my shoulder and read the essays I was grading for…

My dad had patients. They were crazy, and they used to come over to the house. My dad would see them in his study. Actually it was a kitchen. A…

[Image Credit: “Nude,” Adelaar Rogers] A woman doesn’t just stumble upon a name like Howling Woman, nor is she born with it. That kind of name is earned. A woman…

I know the poets say “bone-white,” but bones are never really so-white, and these beached bones have surely been bleached white. On approach to them, I am tilted by the…

With branch and root and raining mirrors down all the doors in cavesnakings down the clouds the cliffs the creeks where floratubes thump satin blood in purple petals spinning and…

It was just a pigeon. Sam found it on the doorstep, still warm despite the snow. It was covering the “L” on the welcome mat. “Dad” she said, wiping tears…

The first thing I stole was an ashtray from the dollar store. I was too little to understand the concept of property. I believe such abstract ideas are grasped only…

I was eating cherries out of a jar when Denis Johnson died, my fingers sticky with the slime. Their red syrup coating my teeth, I could feel a cavity forming…

[Image by Illustrations by Jia Sung] This itch is not a normal itch. It has to do with pain. If the itch were a normal itch, its signal would travel…

In the Garden of the Bats I wanted to prove to the neighbors that I had pizzazz, so I went ahead and built a garden of night-blooming flowers. With the…

1. Origins and distributions We hear birds at night. I imagine they are cardinals but Lou argues for sparrows. We know for sure they aren’t supposed to be here. But…

* * * The beginning Breath in, Breath out. Bring your arms up to the ceiling, Inhale— Drop your arms, And exhale. Drop your eyes to the floor, Let your…

The Untapped Gold Mine of Taco Bell That Virtually No One Knows About “Grilled chicken burrito, no ranch avocado sauce. Substitute Fritos in for the avocado sauce.” The front of…

Whack! I crimp cable in a computer factory. Never successfully. No matter how hard I try to master crimp connection, the inspector calls me back and asks if I know…