There was a lady. She was pregnant. And had a daughter, already born. And she had no home. And was sick. And needed money. On the train one day. And we all looked away. All of us. And a girl, a beautiful girl, 24 or so, with short black hair (girls with short black hair […]
I like my town with a little drop of poison
Nobody knows they’re lining up to go insane
I’m all alone, I smoke my friends down to the filter
But I feel much cleaner after it rains.
-Tom Waits
The ‘recession’, last season’s plague, had hardly been able to squash the American spirit of entrepreneurship. The young man, his face […]
“Hey, nobody wants to work on Sunday, right? But I figure with what’s going on out there, I’ll work…in case soon there ain’t no work.” Jack said, though right now he wasn’t doing much work, but smoking a cigarette and watching–supervising–his friend paint over the last letters on the sign. 48 signs down. 36 to […]
…but it’s all right, it’s all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong…
–Paul Simon
Late this autumn the wrecking ball will finally hit old Yankee Stadium, and then hit it again, until it’s a pile of dust on the ground; a ground waiting to […]
He looked out the window as he talked; looked right out, across the river, and onto New York’s seven year old new skyline. It was a perfect view, perhaps the most complete view of Manhattan in all of Jersey City, but when you’ve made as much money as he had, I suppose you can get […]
Max stood in the middle of his small apartment staring at the mattress on the floor; it was, besides him and a laundry basket, all that was in the tiny room. But he didn’t dare lay on it, lest his soaked clothes should dampen it and ruin the only pleasure he had of late: sleeping. […]
The bridge, older than the name of the land or the boundaries set up to define that land, was good enough for now; the rain pounded its top and engulfed the paths leading to and from it, but, for now, those inside stayed dry. Jakup had his arm around a young child. Whose child? Who […]
I’m not a foot fetishist. Okay. I mean, I wouldn’t even be looking at her feet, but the train was packed and, for most of the way, it was all I could see. They were nice feet–again, not a foot fetishist, but someone who appreciates beauty. And, really, when I say “nice” I mean it […]
It’s said, or I’ve heard, that a captured soldier is only required to give out three pieces of information: Name, rank, and serial number. With the exception of ‘Name’, I’m not sure what exactly the importance of the other two bits are– I suppose ‘rank’ holds importance, as far as the enemy is concerned, in […]
‘The Dark Knight’ is a truly spectacular film. And I think I hate it…
Before I’m accused of over-analysing a summer blockbuster, I have to point out that the makers of this film–some truly talented individuals–chocked this thing so full of quandaries and dilemmas; packed it with ruminations on chaos and instances of game theory1; and […]
I’ve been getting in a lot of trouble lately. It seems correcting someone’s poor use of words is now akin to telling them their children are ugly and their career is a waste of time. Certainly I’m not perfect; a careful look through any piece on this site will probably yield no end of run […]
It’s funny to note that in a time of intense failure, massive incompetence, and rampant mediocrity; the most offensive charge we increasingly throw around is that you/your group/your philosophy are elitist. Second-rateness, seemingly the day’s new black, has become so popular that any stray from the not-so-perfect path is to be derided and held up […]
Everyone wants a thing. Bad.
It was an efficient thing. Built to last. Strong. Could do anything. And so, with these traits, it was everything the human body was not. By the standards of most living things, humans’ threshold for time without food and water is remarkably small. We can’t do anything and we are unable […]
It was a giant purple thing, stuck, for several days, between a Prius and a Cooper. And Tom Armstrong, a resident of 34 Gramercy Park East, was right when he said, “I wouldn’t want a car that was that beat up to be outside on our streets, much less a reeking dumpster!” But there it […]
Here, in the beginning was the word. And the word said ‘here’ and here he was. He knew not why he was here (do any of us?), but he was here and there was nothing else here, only darkness–though lacking even the quantity called ‘darkness’. And though there was not yet loneliness, terror, or cold; […]
I don’t do lists. Like mashups, remakes, and sequels; I’ve always considered them a ground-zero for our age’s inability to be original. My site, who’s birthday is only a few weeks removed from mine, has done it’s best to be original, often changing formats, focuses, and styles just to keep up, by keeping far away, […]
iPhone G3 release day at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store.
Okay, I think I’ve made my point now.
Whatever your particular belief system is: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Fatalist, Randomist, Darwinist, Sun-Worshipper, the Cult of mother nature; I find it hard to believe that any deity, transcendental power, or prophet could have ended whatever was inside of Jesse Helms without noting the irony of making his last day take place on the […]
Dear readers, friends, and stalkers:
It’s clear my site has slightly slowed down of late. While I’d like to attribute this to some much longer pieces I’m working on (or what I and the rest of the world call “Real Writing”), or to the fact that as I reach nearly my hundredth short-short story that I’ve […]
I’ve never until now written, or even spoke, a word about Bob Dylan. In fact, I’ve never even listened to him–not in public anyway. I’ve heard him on my headphones and let his messages seep in from my low speakers late, late at night; but when people are around, you won’t hear me either playing […]
The old men of the village had their eyes firmly focused on politics again. And the economy. And property values. And sports. But not their wives; their wives were safe at home now–safe and unlooked on. The candlelit dinners and music, the awkward dancing and even more awkward reading of poetry had stopped when the […]
“Liberty Univer…” Mark stopped. It was the first time either of them had said that, the word “kill”. Madison Square was completely dark now except for a few people at the enclosed dog-run.
Every now and then you run into a story, says, “some guy broke into a house, stole a lot of things, and while he was in there, he raped an 81 year old woman.”
And I’m thinking to myself, “WHY??? What the fuck kind of a social life does this guy have?”
–George Carlin
It was far from […]
Kyle thought as he went for a better arrangement of the list. His structure still seemed off and taking it out of alphabetical order hadn’t fixed the problem. He scribbled down on his notepad again: Homosexuals, blacks, Aisans, lesbians…