Champagne for Tucker's Mom
from Hiawatha Rocks
by Peter Magliocco, August 2005
"Musing laughingly on that subject, the young pair of vets then left. Once behind the wheel of the Mustang, Tucker tried to feel out what Nem's opinion was of the arrangement between the truck driver and Tucker's Mom. Was that a snicker he detected on the little Polack's face, or just a polite attempt at being non-committal? He judged the latter, though still poised and ready to let Nem know there would be no mockery of the matter, and no disparagement."
Poet = Assassin
by Stephan Rose, August 2005
"Let me put this in simple terms: some people, some very POWERFUL people, aren't very happy with the state of the entertainment industry today. Lotta untalented people getting famous. Lotta people making it big by doing whatever a record company or publicist tells them to do. And that makes our country look BAD. So, people started to die. Chances are, if you hear of a musician dying of an "overdose" or a "suicide" it was one of us."
Death and the Minstrel
by Tala Bar, August 2005
"Finbar was very ill. This time, he thought, he's not going to get out of it. In the past two years he had been frequently sick, mainly had stomach aches sometimes accompanied with fever. As time went by it became worse, and he was going through attacks which, with their passing, left him feeling worn out, lifeless, with no energy to do anything."
from About a Girl
by Tony Nesca, August 2005
"Approaching downtown the drunks come out middle of the afternoon stumbling through parking lots and construction sites she digs it says life is about this takes another sip of vodka I join her people on the bus take notice driver looking at us in mirror let's get off I say...heel-toe-express down the downtown streets chinese guy parking car reminds me of something I can't remember"
I Am Not Nor Have I Ever Been
by Carol Novack, August 2005
"Once, my city burned. I saw edifices disappear, smelled death for months. Even the cats wheezed. It was a conspiracy by them, whose name we dare not utter, yes it was, but nobody wants to hear that. No, it wasn't, you're correct. I'd have to be mad to believe any such thing, you're right I'm wrong; forget I uttered the C word. I was being ridiculous."
"woe woe woe, your revelation is very disappointing," "heaven knows i'm more miserable than morissey now," and "is that a loaf of bread in your pocket?"
by Delphine LeCompte, July 2005
'"is that a flask of spanish rum in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?", "it's a flask of greek geneva and i'm not pleased to see you, i see you everyday, and everyday you talk too much", "i can be silent, when the moment requires silence, not many moments require silence, silence is overrated, it takes guts to be talkative in a world that's designed for mute hobos and secretive johns"'
This Could Go Further
by Brent Powers, July 2005
"Sex is another thing, though. You come on in the wrong way or to the wrong person, or respond inappropriately to a come on directed at you, well, it can get weird. I guess this chick, or maybe not a chick, I don't know, but look, when a chick tells you she's got this job for the summer at the Church camp or farm she calls it sometimes where the main project for the children is to learn how to castrate pigs..."
The Tragedy of Diminished Expectations
by Joel Van Noord, July 2005
"Obviously a policy our state directs toward the Slum Region with the sole aim to decapitate their reproductive ability is going to be seen with animosity from the inhabitants of that region. And when I say affectable, I mean how they will be able to affect us. Will they have years to grow and simmer with hatred, or will the procedure be relatively harmless for those people. That's what I mean by affectable."
Successor
by Amanda Earl, July 2005
"The wail of sirens grows louder. Sarabella holds the needle steady as she pierces her inner thigh, watching in fascination as the blood runs down and pools, dripping against her cock. The high-pitched wail of sirens and the sharp, tight heat of the puncture force her to take a deep breath and smell the thin oxygen air mixed with absinthe and opium."
Pink Carnations
by Bob Conklin, July 2005
"He started to itch, an allergy, a desire. He was allergic to flowers, to carnations in particular. Since when? And why? The itching broke into goose pimples on bare arms and legs, and a sudden gust of wind lifted the mask from his eyes, opened his vision. He closed his eyes, squinting them shut, but he could see through his lashes more carnations, a growing field of them, the original carnation lost in the haze of their swaying."
A Platoon of Soccer-Moms Descends on Truman Elementary
by Sean Kilpatrick, July 2005
"Principal Sherman...what are our demands?"
"Demands?"
"That's what the man with the bullhorn keeps asking."
"I was...trying to tune him out by singing."
Twitch Twitch Snarl
by Joseph Musso, June 2005
"So's I tells him I'm broke you know, my little brother says. Just tell him straight up, no fuckin around, that's the way it is. & he goes & tries to take my horn for it so I went crazy & beat him to a pulp man. He was just meat & juice & a cheap gold chain by the time I was done. He kept crying at the end & whimpering like a dog & begging me to stop. But I wasn't stopping. Figured I better kill the fuck or this thing'll never end."
Going Bananas
by Rob Rosen, June 2005
"CoCo broke the lock off his cage, threw the cage at the window, and left that way. We searched the neighborhood, but nobody’s seen him. It must have happened early this morning, but rest assured we’ll find him. We also notified Animal Control, so it shouldn’t take long. Stay by the phone, I’ll be in touch."
The Old West is a Dangerous Place for Someone like—
by Marie Kazalia, June 2005
"The way I dress, my independence (female), my long black coat a flag waving at every redneck. I slept curled up on two seats-- a platform with both footrests up--my two black coats for blankets. I can't sleep this first night, I thought--but dozed off around midnight. (I'd started the day at 5:30 in the morning) Woke every hour--at Salt Lake, at Provo Utah."
Hardliners
by Jay Heisler, June 2005
"For the brief, beautiful moment when my eyes first opened, I could have been anyone, anywhere. I had no memory, no self, just a flicker of pure, unfettered consciousness. Of course, the headache kicked in almost right away, followed by the even more painful memories of who I was, and what I had done the night before."
Joan's Birthday Party
by Robert E. Jordan, June 2005
"Joan steps out in just a tutu and a bra, bows her head, and drops to her knees. She starts writhing around on the floor showing off some of her tricky moves. Joan doesn’t look too happy about what she’s doing, but then, she never was one to go around with a silly smile pasted all over her face."
Causa
by Rodney Nelson, June 2005
"You gave one summer to la causa and would tell the students it had been everything, I was dedicated I went to Delano three times a week with food in my vee-doubleyew bug los huelguistas had to eat the Brown Berets were running the food drive then I got copies of El Malcriado which I distributed on the peninsula I gave it everything I had we were like that I mean committed"
"discipline, contrition, boredom, ox" and "i need to be myself, but sometimes i need to be liam gallagher"
by Delphine LeCompte, May 2005
'i am reading wee andy's palm: "you will be trampled by an equine creature in april, it's hard to read when exactly, you have a very messy palm", "will anything exciting happen to me before i die?" the wee cynical cunt says all coolly mockingly, "hmm, there's a minging orphan girl who will spraypaint slanderous stories on your bedroom walls on the fourth of march, you will also be attacked by a mancunian shepherd at the end of march!"'
"Ezra's Heart" and "Tale of the Mexican Snowman"
by John Gorman, May 2005
"I covered my ears, dropping the tiger lilies and had to stoop to pick them up. The petals seemed to be withering. Doc shook his head while taking a file from the nurse. She had such creamy legs much more slender than mine. I was happy Ezra didn’t notice."
Doing What I Can for the Modern Minotaur Mind
by Timber Masterson, May 2005
"It had been a while since I’d had a conversation with something other than a human being; my last interaction that of a baseball toss with a neighborhood puppy, accompanied by talk of life, love and tricks on how to shop in malls without weeping and frightening humans. So..."
Bandersnatch George and the Basin Rider Rendezvous
by Steven Levi, May 2005
"Cerebrus was so close to earth that it had been discovered in the early 1900s by astronomers using telescopes. A small planet with no redeeming scientific oddities, it was cataloged with a number, labeled as a "dead" planet and forgotten. There it remained, in the dustbin of astronomical archives for almost one hundred years. Then it reappeared for the basest of reasons: greed."
The Antisocialists
by Jay Heisler, May 2005
"Timothy Rove always believed in fighting fire with fire. That’s why, when his girlfriend Jessica threw a Molotov cocktail at a shelf of books in the Houston public library, he threw another one to put it out. Knowledge is power, she had told him, and libraries are one of the few places where power is unprotected. In fact, security was so low that the two of them managed to walk in the front door, each toting a hockey bag filled with their favorite toys."
Eyesnag
by P. S. Ehrlich, April 2005
"So I turned to wood—as it were. This despite the counsel of Mr. Clynelish, who’d strayed off the Highlands to teach high school art in the middle of Missouri. He disdained woodwork (“That is a SHOP CLASS! Can ye no’ see that, laddie?”) almost as much as he denigrated realism, photorealism, superrealism—in fact anything closer to nature than the mobiles of Alexander Calder."
Clam Daddy
by P Moss, April 2005
"While most of the better topless establishments in Las Vegas cloaked sexual fantasy in the sophistication of plush decor, flavored martinis and fine dining, the clam joints were more base. Totally nude with zero left to the imagination. Jerry found nothing sexy about a girl squatting over his face and cracking open a sideways window to her spleen. Yet there he was."
Him and Her
by Anne McMillen, April 2005
"His environment had become hostile. Fanged smiles, toothless missiles, and bulging tonsils threatening infection but more than anything there was no way to inoculate oneself against the silence."
East, the New West
by Benjamin Bower, April 2005
"Try it again, forthright, frivolous strumpet! Wanton child, I call your appearance sluggish and ham-fisted! Your figure ham-indulgent, I say! Perhaps you’d try reach again and test what contempt my code hath mustered!"
Quiet Rebellions
by Wayne Scheer, April 2005
'John wanted to say something encouraging, offer the wisdom that was supposed to derive from being a professor of philosophy. But he couldn't think of a damn thing to say. He knew what his father, a World War II veteran who had died a year earlier, would have said. "You made your decision to join the National Guard. A man accepts the consequences of his actions."'
Out of Step, Out of Time
by Terry P. Rizzuti, February 2005
'Stanley’s feeble attempt to rise out of his wheelchair failed miserably. Curtis started laughing. He rose up from his own seat, grabbed a handkerchief out his back pocket and stepped over to Stanley. Roughly, he wiped Stanley's face of smeared drool, and his nose of crusted snot, then stuffed the handkerchief back in his pocket. "Look at your sorry ass, nothing but Airborne disease."'
The Fate of Nerds
by Korinna Irwin, February 2005
"It's like when you're drinking and you black out, you become the person inside of you that you were afraid to be, the person you hate more than anyone. For me it had been the girl who had let people walk all over her, who actually cared what the boys, even the nerdy ones thought."
Waiting to Die
by Kurtice Kucheman, February 2005
'"i've told you the procedure, now please wait pleasantly to be arrested and assraped by an obese black crack addict."'
Walking through Puberty
by A.D. Winans, February 2005
"I watched Elmer walk over and pick the forbidden magazine up. He stood facing me, turning the pages until he came to the centerfold, which contained a glossy print of a naked woman with the largest breasts I could have imagined. Bigger even than my mother's."
Remember
by Rob Rosen, February 2005
"His massive sideburns and mustache were long gone. He could never keep his job if he still had them, much as he'd like to. And worse than all that were the wrinkles that had suddenly appeared around his eyes and along his forehead. "Fuck," he said, and turned away from the mirror. He was too depressed to shave. Maybe no one will notice, he thought."
"it's hard to enjoy rape sometimes" and "my father is a gardener with a rash on his cock but no garden"
by Delphine LeCompte, January 2005
'"we are all very worried about you", that's what the kinky nightnurse says whilst unzipping my jeans, he says "we" but he means "i", he says "worried" but he means "eager to get into your knickers", i'm just glad i'm no longer trapped in that nuthouse'
Black Cat Leaves White Balloon
by Eric Bosse, January 2005
"—I couldn't help but overhear your story back here and your daughter has a point.
—She's not my daughter. She's an orphan I picked up off the street.
—Dad!
—Hush now."
Everything in its Place
by Chaz Skinner, January 2005
"Jode is glad the man from the museum has stopped the flow of blood and has replaced his towel with a fat bandage. His pain is still intense but it's being transcended by an incredible hunger. He realises he hasn't eaten. Not today."
Leg
by Ryan Masters, January 2005
"The leg left him while he slept off the wine. Inching its way across the bed like a worm, it stepped gingerly down onto the carpet, wobbled uncertainly on the ball of its foot, and then strolled around the bedroom testing its knee and rocking its thigh back and forth like a metronome baton."
Tasteless Joe
by Rob Rosen, January 2005
"Joseph Mellon appeared like all the other babies in the sandbox. He was cute and cuddly and round and happy; happy eating sand, that is. Oh sure, babies are famous for sticking just about anything in their mouths, but little Joey wasn't simply tasting the sand, he was eating it as if it were the finest Gerber baby food on the market."
Mood Rings
by Christopher Robin, January 2005
'I wore a mood ring too. I didn't give one to my girlfriend who was sitting right there, because she'd just spent three days with her and was annoyed because she didn't chew with her mouth open, ("she can't feel her lips- she had injections-have some sympathy" I pleaded) and left the toilet seat up and wouldn't snuggle.'
Men-Cat-Dude-Guys
by Marie Kazalia, December 2004
"Then he told me the owners owed him three thousand and he'd have that much this evening--I should come back then. I said I needed money now. So he told me he'd give me money --that I should go down to the toilet-- he'd give me money there. I hemmed and hawed and complained--decided I did want some Indian food, now, after all, asked him to give me some and some cash as a gift. He told me to go downstairs."
"Ansel" and "Heat"
by Dave Clapper, December 2004
"I settled my butt into the sand, dust rising in a small cloud. A rattlesnake poured out of Ansel's left nostril, regarded me coolly, and slithered away. "Good morning to you, brother," I said, and pulled a flask from my vest pocket. "Cowboys around here, Ansel, they don't know good liquor." I untwisted the cap and poured some Dalwhinnie, my favorite single malt, between Ansel's teeth."
