Cherrypicked stories
aridity in the garden
the good goes hand in hand with the bad like the rocky coast where the sea meets the land, the warm breeze blowing fall leaves into winter's icy hand the good goes hand in hand
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- 5 comments
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- 911 reads
Super – Van (IP)
Sandra hated getting the late bus home from the college.
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- 16 comments
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- 5289 reads
On looking at a painting by the Cornish artist Peter Lanyon
Inspired by a recent visit to Tate Britain. Peter Lanyon died following a gliding accident in 1964 at the age of 46.
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- 28 comments
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- 8513 reads
Big Society
What happened when a Neighbourhood Watch decided to fight back...
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- 5 comments
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- 1022 reads
Carly
This is far from polished! A little story about an awkward encounter at a student party. Enjoy!
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- 12 comments
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- 2902 reads
Ex chapter 1
Daniel's father tried to kill him once and even at his tender age Daniel could see that he intended to try to kill him again.
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- 18 comments
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- 5413 reads
Further Advice for Sufferers of ABC OCD
The long-awaited sequel to the highly acclaimed ABC OCD - Do You Have It?
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- 37 comments
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- 6312 reads
Telling it Like it is...(I.P.)
Spring never ever came that year - the year he left...
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- 22 comments
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- 4489 reads
amy, 27
“If I died tomorrow, I would be a happy girl.” Amy Winehouse
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- 6 comments
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- 1322 reads
Wonderella (IP) – Part One
“Chuck Charming, the multi-million dollar philanthropist is throwing a big Christmas charity bash at his enormous Tudor mansion”, said Ma Ugly...
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- 2 comments
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- 2073 reads
Spiritual Rigor Mortis
When I hear children playing But can’t see them, I picture them Running around in a garden, And then I think of my own And wonder if they too are happy. Then I become morose.
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- 10 comments
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- 2342 reads
To hold just once
I’m vomiting colours - blue a deep aquamarine hue I’m hearing time pass by shuffling past the empty open door The night fills with your name dark, musk, but stale
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- 7 comments
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- 2343 reads
A New Year for Hans
"A story, Hans!" they shouted. "We are on the edge of our seats with excitement!"
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- 1 comment
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- 1045 reads
If you meet me, have some sympathy 19
A story emerging in 200-word episodes. Our heroes have found their way into the social network, but it's not really what it's cracked up to be ...
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- 10 comments
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- 2633 reads
Darkness
'she fears the darkness and when the light shines; she gathers her body up- a human blind, tries to keep the light alive.'
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- 11 comments
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- 2259 reads
Suck
Autumn colored bumps & brushes were getting stronger We could not hold up under the pressure They glare at the stranger Forcing them away, I smile less
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- 6 comments
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- 1442 reads
Prologue - CULLEN STORY PART 1
He woke to the sound of breaking glass; & his face was wet with tears.
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- 6 comments
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- 1202 reads
Circus Maximus
Buddy Hazelton, chairman of the Brandenburg College philosophy department, quit his job to join the Waverly Brothers Traveling Circus.
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- 16 comments
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- 4412 reads
A Good Man
The weather was a chill of numbing in its creeping from bone to muscle
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- 2 comments
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- 1362 reads
After Making Love...
I defy dawn to break this reverie...
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- 12 comments
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- 2992 reads
Improved Pamela's Dream opening
Updated version of the opening - the dream has changed to one that fits in more with the theme. New bits coming up
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- 1 comment
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- 825 reads
Wish
I read somewhere that a folding a thousand origami cranes will breathe life into a wish, send it whispering into reality, blowing away problems with the breeze of its wingbeats,
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- 5 comments
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- 1183 reads
The prayer hacking scandal
“I don’t understand all this gossip about the prayer hacking scandal. What exactly happened?” “Well, you’ve got God watching over mankind from heaven.” “Nice place heaven.”
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- 10 comments
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- 3198 reads
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
...
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- 15 comments
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- 3185 reads
How to Mummify Your Heart
inspired by botany.
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- 3 comments
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- 1084 reads
Linda - 1
The only furniture in the room I rent is a small, green cot. The room I rent is the smallest of six bedrooms in a large house in a bad part of town.
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- 4 comments
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- 1224 reads
Plastic Lovespoon
I can’t bring myself to mention that the mince pies I bought for her two Christmases ago are still in the fridge behind the three- and-a-half boxes of chocolate
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- 4 comments
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- 924 reads
Blind Woman at Clapham Junction
poem inspired by people-watching
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- 6 comments
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- 1340 reads
Here With Her
I could wake Here Every morning Not this room, Not this drive Or even this town - I could wake Here Every morning Under this sun Next to her This beautiful girl.
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- 10 comments
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- 2303 reads
The folly of wishful thinking
Bother the facts
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- 12 comments
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- 3120 reads
Terrence Oblong has gone stark raving mad
Insertponscyfrenchnamehere isn’t a nun is she?
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- 6 comments
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- 2331 reads
God's Eye
this is a poem about a friend of mine who committed suicide.
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- 6 comments
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- 1538 reads
For Friendship
It’s been a long, strange road A hundred conversations That never happened Words I’ve waited for That are never spoken But I’m glad you finally learned to spit
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- 1402 reads
Love is like holding your head to an electric fan, real close.
“To survive heartache you’ve got to stay busy” Well, I’m not busy enough
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- 33 comments
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- 9165 reads
Get Into The Light: Chapter Twelve- If I Gave You Diamonds and Pearls Would You Be a Happy Boy or a Girl?
Lola discovers that Prince is in love with her and she's personally responsible for the deaths of a boat- load of passengers
Bill and the UFO24
strange fish
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- 7 comments
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- 1472 reads
The Machine of Death
I couldn’t believe it.
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- 5 comments
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- 1530 reads
Vientiane: an alternative guide
Laos: "The refuge of the last dreamers, the last loved ones, the last troubadours" MARTHE BASSENNE
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- 2 comments
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- 1849 reads
The Nether World Awaits
Just something I decided I wanted to write about.
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- 23 comments
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- 6074 reads
Alicia at Number Three (I.P.)
Trees vie to give her shade... so soft and light her tread.
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- 16 comments
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- 3731 reads
Eyes or Wrists
We were right about where we came from. The spit & fire, nails & razors, The lashing of bicycle chains behind the knees, Father’s handprint bruised to the side of my face.
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- 877 reads
The blackness of plastic bin bags.
...the ubiquitous bin bag...
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- 15 comments
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- 3879 reads
Every Junkie Fears the Miracle
The miracle cure has come. But – What if Jesus himself looked you in the eye? Whether in the beginning, Your own genesis, bathed in sweat Wrapped in heated blankets
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- 8 comments
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- 2215 reads
They Haven't Loved
I can’t stand when People say Mature love Is beyond jealousy And full of trust-- They haven’t loved. I want you To yearn for my Every thought And howl at My silent poems.
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- 11 comments
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- 2235 reads
The bee and the wasp
A bee goes up-to a wasp and gloatingly asks him who had the harder sting. The wasp replied "you do my mate" So the bee laughed and said "you know wasp, you know"
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- 4046 reads
Anniversary
You stumble in... through the kitchen door –
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- 20 comments
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- 5133 reads
Damaged Goods
The widow, Lyuba Russova, is damaged goods, but then so are most of the other Russian immigrants at the Meadow Lanes subsidized housing complex.
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- 12 comments
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- 3859 reads
Cicada Songs
Cicada song Do not test yourself here Don’t break yourself against this shore. I have my feet firmly planted, My hands fingering the key – I have journeyed through the first flame
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- 16 comments
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- 3571 reads
Now She is Six...
She's an expert in cat-speak...
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- 26 comments
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- 5576 reads
Nopales for Breakfast
My grandmother is Preparing the Nopales In the kitchen-- It is dawn. As she cuts Away at the Flesh of The ancient Plant, Stripping it Of its thorns, I see Our future, Raza:
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- 26 comments
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- 6490 reads
Enduring Brixton
Some lines on gentrification and the destruction of the last of the old Brixton squats
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- 5 comments
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- 1246 reads
Silence the scream
How do I silence the scream? The long, unbearable scream that lives in my guts, my throat, my head and longs to pour out through my teeth. I feed it with cigarettes, whisky, sunshine and music.
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- 4 comments
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- 1570 reads
Another Carl Andre Dream
Firefly-bright porch light and a palo verde smell, 8:00-9:00. The screen door’s flapping like a wing in the wind; light inside. Maybe it’s the thunderstorm or
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- 618 reads
If you meet me, have some sympathy 18
A story in 200-word episodes. Travelling through cyberspace has its excitements and perils. This is probably neither but, well, it takes all sorts ...
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- 9 comments
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- 2631 reads
Trains
We are sorry to inform you, But the cancellation’s due to, The weather being too hot, And it’s snowing quite a lot, There’s a curry on the track, The driver’s hurt his back,
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- 8 comments
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- 2335 reads
Seals
Smooth and shy, and hard to spy peeping from the water. Watch them gliding, swimming by – agile under water. When they leave the sea they heave – pull with each front flipper,
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- 9 comments
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- 4772 reads
Silence
So I scream to you, in silent bursts of pain you must never hear, leave me something to remind me of the beauty we once shared.
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- 15 comments
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- 2262 reads
I was an idiot at that party
'Someone's drank my beers' a man who seemed kind said
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- 5 comments
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- 1964 reads