poetry and prose by stephen chute

Monday, October 31, 2011

Sunday, October 30, 2011

like

it's like this, i like really really like this cup of coffee it's like so likable. don't you think, i mean really. how...

street theater

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the dog wearing antlers crossing the street towards the bulldog with a string of christmas lights blinking around his collar. the m...

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

tomorrow comes

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busy in his old age with a wrench tightening screws. finding loose bolts and nuts with which to turn and tighten. there is always ...

halloween

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below the harvest moon, with orange licks of buttered candy and swooping trees, where ghosts and goblins and bright striped bees swa...

better left unsaid

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some words when at last all who remain are gathered to post farewell, why bother now with the story told of what was said, or unsaid...

the red bowl

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you can't reach the top shelf, so you pull a chair closer to the counter and step up in your stocking feet. it's a bowl yo...

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

the wedding party

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when the wedding party ends, and the last dance is danced, the cake cut and eaten, when the last bottle of champagne is popped and ...

when the battery dies

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you resort to pencil and pen, finding a scratch pad to make a list of things to do, what to buy at the grocery store, who to call a...

two pictures

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nervous and shy, she sends you a photo before meeting. she's at a church picnic wearing a checkered dress with a ribbon around her...

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

being there

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the graffiti man, with his cans of orange glow and green as bright as apples sprays his name and sign along the high water tower an...

the upside of losing it

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after leaving the stove on, she put the milk into the cupboard, her keys in the freezer, she kissed the cat goodnight and told me t...

behind you

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you are being followed. you can feel the presence of someone behind you. hear their shallow breathing, the low beat of their heart,...

Monday, October 24, 2011

monkey love

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your new pet monkey, jimmy, or j j as you call him, gets out of his cage and uses your computer while you're at work. he loves ...

crazy girl

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if you place a shallow bowl or dish of white vinegar out it will take away the smell of paint, or other odors that may offend you. ...

velvet cupcake

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you left your velvet cupcake on the sill of the window and the birds have flocked upon it. the pink ribbed paper is all that'...

Sunday, October 23, 2011

the caged tiger

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someone begins to tell you a story. you are on the bus going to the zoo, so you are trapped, and have to listen. it's a long story...

the kindness of others

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you make the mistake of climbing the mountain that you see outside your window. you take a cup of coffe and your cell phone, but ...

love

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what isn't lost is never found, it stays where it always was, out of sight, out of mind, collecting dust, fading in the long day...

what time has done

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you google friends who were friends, picking faces from memory, names that scratch the surface of your mind, you search for them on...

what did you do today, dear

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in her under wear she goes to the window to wave to the mailman as he takes his time putting the junk mail through the slot, he tip...

Saturday, October 22, 2011

i hop

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love is a monkey wrench you tell her over coffee and cigarettes. you are dining late into the night at the international house of ...

the number

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it's funny how what you throw away is what you need next. the thing that never got used in years is tossed, and then, suddenl...

towards land

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it's the rowing, the infinite number of strokes, the splash and pull of oar in water across the dark lake of time. slow and easy...

Friday, October 21, 2011

new born

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a new born as pink as a fresh balloon against an april sky, his milky green eyes half open to the light, his impossibly small fing...

bus stop

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standing alone at the stop, you feel the cold in your toes first. in your hands, the tip of your un covered nose. a wind rises u...

six across, the goddess of love

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an old man without his shirt, back in his soft chair, the grey tuffs of his chest, tanned and in the sun his black glasses on. the...

2 comments:

Thursday, October 20, 2011

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it's hardly rainin

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

the morning bath

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the smell of morning, of shaved soap and water, the hot rising steam above the steel white tub with you sub merged not unlike a p...

frost bite

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baby it's cold out there, but not as cold as it suddenly got in here, we really need to have that talk, don't we. i don'...

bag by the door

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the sun only has five billion years left before it burns itself out and becomes a red giant that obliterates our orbit. i haven...

politics

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you grow weary listening to the debate. words, grandiose statements of change and jobs, of ending wars and poverty and keeping out...

Monday, October 17, 2011

your basket

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your basket of sorrows like stale bread, spoiled eggs, bad fruit is in your arms again, and yet again as you walk the streets at ...

hollow moon

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the woods are not quiet tonight. the trees are haunted the leaves are whispering on the wind. the stream, so cold and clear this ...

no pulp welfare

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the tired man on the bench dressed in rags yells over to me for a match to light his fat cigar. i tell him that i don't have one,...

the hunt

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i could eat meat she says, buttoning her coat for the long walk up the avenue. charred red meat and potatoes. throw in a green bean or...

nothing surprises

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nothing surprises you anymore. the earth being round, the sun being too far away to ever visit, and hot, the moon just a white ball ...

Sunday, October 16, 2011

sylvia

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you get a post card from india. i miss you, it says. i love you, signed sylvia. but you don't know anyone named sylvia. you wr...

meteor

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you lie in the cold grass of october, staring up into the clear starlit sky. you wait and wait for the streak of light, the meteo...

marching

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i'm marching in a circle for work, more jobs, to cure a disease, to end the war, i'm up and down the streets with every colo...

with heart in hand

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the thought of you, the storm of you, the weather that you bring when you appear, is slipping like a road covered in fast falling s...

mona lisa

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you wake up in another time, in another place, the renaissance period, and there is a knock at your door, it's da vinci wanting ...

cat bliss

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the cat arches her back in the moonlight upon the sill. she can stare for hours at what passes by the window. bliss is in not kn...

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you hear the horses late at night riding into town, the rope going over the high tree. you lie in your cell unrepentant and aslee...

Saturday, October 15, 2011

round and round

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in a circle she goes, chasing her tail in a basket empty of clothes, round and round and round, there is no place left to go if s...

a sea of coffee

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the world is a sea of coffee. cups are adrift everywhere you look. there goes one down the street, floating in the gutter with li...

did you find everything you need

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is there anything else i can help you with, did you find everything you need today, the cashier says, as she puts your box of donuts ...

Friday, October 14, 2011

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from corner to corner, the mad man in dreadlocks and baggy pants, talks to no one and everyone, his hands moving like vipers in a pi...

clown days

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you come home from work, and take off your clown suit, the fat red nose. the water flower from your lapel. you wipe the make up of...

no going back

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it turned cold suddenly. blue skies gave way to grey. the clouds rolled in thick and low across the tops of empty trees. the e...

Thursday, October 13, 2011

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despite being full, you manage to eat one more chocolate covered donut. what the hell you say, winter is on the way and i need anoth...

the venus fly trap

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someone sends you a plant in the mail. someone who left her shoes under your bed a few times, not lillies, not roses, not flowers o...

the walk

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you realize now looking back and seeing where you have come from and where you are now, that you can go forever, walk from here to ...

how

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they scatter quickly in the wind. these years. these leaves that turn on cue with each new season, and you press them firmly into...

the sea at night

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in the night when you take the boat out and strike the oars let them rattle hard in the iron of their rowlocks and as you push them...

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

like apples from a tree

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she falls in love easily, men are like apples falling from a tree in the wind. she can't catch them fast enough before they hit ...

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these diamonds on the shore of night as the black sky rolls out it's gems.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

hey where did we go

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there is sometimes something that you went for and left without. it was the one thing that inspired you to get up from the couch and ...

Monday, October 10, 2011

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horseback riding

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the horse never throws you, no, she insists, it's your fault for falling off. she says this from her hospital bed where she has ...

store front vet

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and as the doctor smiles, not with his eyes, and the receptionist, red eyed and bent, head over her magazine, quiet in her profession...

shadow

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even your shadow has forsaken you, when you turn around it's gone, no longer stuck to the back of your shoe. you yell out for it...

Sunday, October 9, 2011

beneath the sink

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her father would hide his liquor beneath the kitchen sink. he'd tuck a neat pint or two of jim beam, or old crow safely below, ...

the bathroom floor

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there is no such thing as sin she says while scrubbing the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. her knees are rubbed red and raw, her...

the fire

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everyone gathers for a fire to see the roof in flames, the windows shattered from the heat. they stand back holding their breath, ...

silence

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you argue silently with the way the sun has set, how the moon just appears in the absence of light. you bicker with the wind and ...

clarity

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i waste no time on that one. a year past. enough blue hours spent. i want my money back. i want a refund on false love, on goods ...

the gate

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the unhinged gate in disrepair, leaning on it's white trimmed shoulder with peeling paint, a rusted bolt that neither slides or...

Friday, October 7, 2011

the apple queen

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i was getting dangerously low on apple butter so i made the trip up to berkley springs west virginia for the annual autumn apple but...

that new car smell

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my new car salesman mohammed, smiles, adjusts his tie and says, i can get you that car, but black is hard to find. you have no idea ...

park clean up day

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it was unfortunate that the park clean up day coincided with the deer management hunt with cross bows by local amateur hunters positio...

Thursday, October 6, 2011

less

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you carry less of yourself now that there is grey in your hair and your step is slower. so much that was so important is over. the ...

still angels

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the children tethered together by nannies along the sidewalk at midday. uniformed and small, their legs just touching the ground, sti...

the path

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as you roll smoothly through the darkened woods, seeing the still shadows of grey deer on the unsafe edges, and swift foxes like whisp...

the winning ticket

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you win the lottery just ten million. but you vow that it won't change your life. but it's too late as you lie in the doctor...

rock creek parkway

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it winds and dips, it's rough and edged deep with ruts of whatever they use to mill the old pavement. the construction goes on f...

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

let's go out instead

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your smoke alarm signals you from your nap that dinner is ready. the house is full of smoke and your eyes are watering, you choke a l...

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

no dinosaurs, please

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i wish we had dinosaurs she says, daydreaming her chin in her hands staring out across the daisy covered meadow, into the woods. h...

asleep

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my leg has fallen asleep. it tingles and burns, has no feeling from hip to foot. it sparkles with an infinite number of stars as i ...

there will be blood

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you've had a bad morning shaving in the dark. the power is out because of the rain, the wind, the trees falling down taking out ...

Monday, October 3, 2011

the bank

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you go the bank to make a large withdrawl. it's not your bank and you're carrying heat and wearing a mask. to your surprise,...

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if i can just get out of this jam, pay this bill, meet the right person, move into the right house, the right neighborhood, have th...

quitting work

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i'm handing in my resignation tomorrow i tell my wife as she stands at the sink chopping onions for the stew she's making for...

more scrabble

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i have a j a z, a q without the u, one o and two e's, i'm doomed. let's quit now before you win. i can't find a wo...

how it begins

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you come home to find your door open, the house unlocked. someone has been inside living your life while you were out. there is a ...

waiting for the light to change

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the politicians, smiling, are standing near the intersection waving with their placards and promises in hand. waving, and waving. t...

and now this

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curls of empty trees leaning against each other as the wide stream widens and rises at the edge of where they stand and wait it o...

Saturday, October 1, 2011

not that hungry yet

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an angry woman who needs her wallpaper up tomorrow calls on the phone. she needs measurements and advice, and needs it done soone...

election day

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if elected i promise to give everyone everything they need at the expense of no one. everyone will be happy. there will be no more wa...

icebergs

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don't tell me it's october, she says. i don't need to hear that. nothing good happens in october. we lie in bed, backs ...

a rainy sunrise

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i've got your number on a book of matches, i've got your sister in the other room. i've got a hangover, and glass of selt...

Friday, September 30, 2011

chainsaw

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you see a madman walking down the street with a chainsaw in his hands, it's whirring loudly and there is a look of crazy in his ...

the empty boot

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as the fireman puts his boot out on the street corner, and the man on the stoop has his hand open for whatever spare change you can ...

the light

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your sunshine is the light above your bed, that swinging bulb with a long grey string, where moths and flies have gathered in a choi...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

a better place

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let's go down the road. it's a better life down there. right over the hill, beyond the trees, across the lake. come on, let...

books

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i remember the time i came home from work and all of my books were packed in boxes. salinger, hemmingway, faulkner, steinbeck and o...

tomorrow night

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i don't want to die alone, she says, i want to meet someone and die with them. oh really, i say to her. sounds lovely. two old s...

going home

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be careful in the rain, she used to say. stay warm, stay dry. and then she'd wait until the car would pull away before flashing...

bread money

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my grandmother used to hide her money, small bills mostly, in coffee cans, in the sleeves of old coats and oven mittens, a pulled u...

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this shark sees a man swimming, his arms and legs thrashing, so he calls up his friends and says, hey, we're having a cookout, ...

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don't make me pull this car over. if you don't stop teasing your sister, you are going to get it little mister. i'm watch...

at the races

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i put almost everything i had on one horse. one race down at the track. i had a hunch, a clue, a tip that just maybe this horse could...

under the hood

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she doesn't walk, she sashays down the street. her hair swinging left then right pretending that she doesn't know how cute sh...

the dead sea

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despite catching the reflection of sun and clouds and an autumn moon, like love gone bad, nothing can live there, no fish survive, ...

brown shoes

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your brown shoes still fit. still shine, await your feet if so inclined to take a walk or to skp down the road, or even dance perhap...

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

no singing

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it won't stop raining, each day is the same. a grey drizzle, a downpour, a deluge. the creek runs high, the trees sag and fall u...

parmesan mashed potatoes

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i want this to last forever, or at least for a very very long time, she says as we're eating dinner. and you say, what are you ta...

quaker oats

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i was eating a bowl of catholic oats the other morning, that's right, catholic oats, not quaker oats. they take a full hour to co...

Monday, September 26, 2011

white birds

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like ghosts, clandestine white birds sliding on dry wings through the frost of trees hung heavy with last night's snow. whose ...

yellow raft

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after floating on a yellow raft for what seems like weeks you begin to hallucinate. you mend all of your relationships as you nibble ...

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we make a good pair, she says. me and you as one. let's move in together and make a go of it. i'm slow to respond and she sa...

muses

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a brilliant word or two from you is all i need to go another mile. a kiss, a touch from your long fingers upon my soul will keep me...

mail day

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unopened mail, on the table, still cold and sealed within their white beds, can wait. i'm full of bad news, of dire circumstance...

Sunday, September 25, 2011

delivering the post

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in the peaceful warmth of cold on the corner of winthrop and audrey lane you'd fold and bend the post and slip the news into pl...

september

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summer slips out the back door quietly on soft feet. she's leaving a trail of wet leaves, of skies dissolving quickly under th...

discipline

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i admire the discipline of the mountain climber. going so far, so high, pressing on despite the cold the thin air and danger of it ...

Saturday, September 24, 2011

missing person

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i saw your signs the other day on the telephone poles all along the highway. missing person with a small heart. the paltry fifty...

1 comment:

Friday, September 23, 2011

dr. phil

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you come home tired from a long day on the job, there is paint and dust in your hair, two of your fingers are stuck together with ac...

falling from the sky

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as hundreds of pounds of melted metal cascades from the sky in a burning heap of spent technology and we dodge the rain of fire a...

Thursday, September 22, 2011

hemmingway's cats

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hemmingway, given a cat named snowball by a seafaring captain in key west fell in love with the polydactyl feline and to this day, l...

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the narrow path that leads down to the water is overgrown. it hasn't seen shoes and boots in years. the bramble rises and wraps ...

it's a good world

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full of novacaine after a root canal and a new crown, you go for coffee and a scone. your white shirt is quickly streaked with blotch...

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the party starts at eight. bring a friend, bring a bottle of your favorite wine. wear a dress, there will be dancing. it may go on ...

marie

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you start with a small room over a chinese restaurant. you are happy there. with your table, your chairs, your sofa and tv. and you...

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

unspoken

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he remembers a girl he knew in school. blue eyes. a pony tail. short legs with skinned knees. he loved her as much as he's ever ...

the bank robber

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the bank robber sits drinking coffee. he's waiting for the doors to open. he's wearing a mask, and gloves. and has a briefcas...

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she lies down in a sea of feathers while the pink street lights bloom below her fourth floor window. the taxis run all night. there...

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reach under there, no right there, give me your hand. do you feel that? it's a small round lump, the size of a pea, or a ball bea...

fish sticks

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i was making dinner the other night, fish sticks and broccoli when the phone rang. it was a salesman asking me if i was interested in...

no parking

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the policewoman who used her bull horn and flashing lights, telling me to move on from the spot where i was idling, because there wa...

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

the mayo clinic

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you go an entire hour or so without thinking about women and sex. you've been concentrating on work and other assorted things. th...

mind reading

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i know what you're thinking she says to me walking across the room in her little black dress, swinging her hips like a pocket wa...

thirty seven minutes

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your subscription has run out. you've let your membership expire. the light on your dashboard blinks yellow. you've decided t...

Monday, September 19, 2011

re-enactments

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you join a group, a meet up group that does re-enactments. this week it's the civil war, but you hate the civil war. next week it...

the great hill

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on the great hill we would sled in january with socks on our hands for mittens. our shoes soaked through and red with numbness. and ...

waiting for a bus

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despite having nothing to say you say something against your better judgement just to make small talk while you both wait for the bu...

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the soft yellow cat who thinks he's a dog rolls over on the rug paws up and mouth open. his green eyes looking over.

that last slice of cake

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it wasn't so much that she stole the blankets, or her light snoring or the fact that she may run off to guatemala with an ophtham...

Saturday, September 17, 2011

bread truck

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you've been driving a bread truck for a few years now. wonder bread. debbie cakes. donuts. short bread and the occasional loaf o...

the old ride

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you'd like to roll back the odometer. correct the steering, realign the wheels, and get a new paint job. the engine could use s...

september snow

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you wake up and look out the window. there's a foot of snow on the ground and it's only september. your neigbor has already...

marking time

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with a pencil i stand straight up against the door jamb and make a mark. when i was a kid my mother did that to see how tall we wer...

the round bed

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she says i want a round bed that way i can never wake up on the wrong side of the bed. very wise i tell her, very smart. maybe it co...

1 comment:

Friday, September 16, 2011

the commune

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i joined a commune after losing my job. it seemed like a good idea. save money. conserve energy, be a part of a progressive and eclec...

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due to the economic climate after the big change as a result of the last election i joined a commune. it seemed like a good idea at th...

directions to lucy's house

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lost again, you pull over to ask directions from a man sitting on an orange crate selling flowers at the corner. he's smoking a ...

felix

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you see a cat crossing the street with an empty jar of crunchy peanut butter stuck on his head. it's a tabby cat. he crosses in a...

mercury

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if you could visit any planet, go to any of them with the snap of your fingers and be there, which one would you go to, she says. i d...

the butterfly

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i see that you borrowed my car again. how could you tell, she says looking in the other direction. oh, look, there's a buttefly ...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

trouble

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whenever there was trouble in the house, when my father was away, my mother would bake. if the money ran low and there was little or...

test drive

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while test driving the new car with the salesman in the passenger seat pointing in which direction to go while he speaks rapidly on ...

so tell me about yourself

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let's really get to know one another, she says over a mojito. her third. she's happy in a drunk sort of way. i want to know ...

sweet tooth

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you've always had a sweet tooth, just ask your dentist. stand back and admire her new mercedes. you have been crowned more times ...

must be a girl

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it's not like you to sleep in like you have these past few days. what gives. is it the rain, the changing of the seasons, or som...

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

good talk

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we need talk more, she says, discus things, don't leave so much on the table before we go to bed. what, he says. did you say so...

why apples

the moment gone

winter sky

cold summer

gypsy queen

the land line