My heart is open. I can feel it. It’s never open. This can’t be a coincidence. This—
My father’s disjointed rage has shocked him—I’ve seen that look before. He no longer draws from his beer even as Dad tilts his own way up.
Cars fly by, the collective braking tantrum screech, the only speech the boy knows well enough.
Goats and cows’ dreams have little pull yet. Cheese
is still cheese, piston driven milkers likely painful. The future
of... more
Her head is hung in anguish. She has opened the window. She is telling Satan to leave our house. She is upset with us.
I am no longer youthful, but not quite middle aged either. Traces of a younger me are present, though fading.
Read Kevin Mahler's Introduction to his ongoing 6-part "Portrait Series Paralleling Characters in HBO’s... more
Warning: CHOKING HAZARD—Not suitable for anyone who has trouble swallowing... more
Say, “we should start a band.” Get shut down because everyone wants to sing but no one knows how to play guitar.
I wanted them to think that I'd developed some sort of heat resistant super power. "This?" I said. "This is nothing," even as sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eyes.
I am split nails, stubs of my fingers. I am a mouthful of dental picks,
the disposable kinds that clog up the ocean and sea... more
When I was thirty I found my birth mom. I’d written her letters but never sent them.
This is a frontier town. Means it’s small.
Now, if the frontier was moving forward, like they do sometimes, our town might get... more
I had no brothers or sisters, so I received a single white envelope. I took my time opening it. I watched as those around me opened theirs. One of my friends started crying. Breathing deeply, I read mine.
They gather in the basement to weep together like the boys they are.
It’s after midnight and Jason is awake, trying to ignore the suspicion his twin sister is masturbating on the... more
We ate dinner with our heads down masticated silence Mom slathered hot sauce on everything including Dad’s words and the ones he... more
I’ve started to clench my teeth before falling asleep.
A conversation with Patrick Coleman, loosely around his new book, The Churchgoer (Harper Perennial).
This is a story about... more
He was super into God. He was super into church. And he was super into me
after Britney Spears
The camera pans—is this... more
