my father was a practical man. he had an idea. you see, my son, he said, I can pay for this house in my lif… then it’s mine.

The baby was crawling, discovering the world. Marina slept in bed with us at night. There was Marina, Fay, the cat and myself. The cat slept on the bed too. Look here, I thought, I have...

people went into vacant lots and pulled up greens to cook and the men rolled Bull Durham or smoked Wings (10 a pack) and the dogs were thin and the cats were thin and the cats learned h...

Beowulf may have killed Grendel a… Grendel’s mother but he couldn’t kill this one:

I get too many phone calls. they seek the creature out. they shouldn’t.

my first and only wife painted and she talked to me about it: it’s all so painful

they don’t make it the beautiful die in flame— suicide pills, rat poison, rope, w… ever... they rip their arms off,

he’s 17 . mother, he said, how do I crack an egg? all right, she said to me, you don… sit there looking like that.

he met her at the racetrack, a str… blonde with round hips, well-bosom… turned-up nose, flower mouth, in a… wearing white high-heeled shoes. she began asking him questions abo…

Lila Jane was a girl my age who lived next door. I still wasn’t allowed to play with the children in the neighborhood, but sitting in the bedroom often got dull. I would go out and walk...

look there. the one you considered killing you… for. you saw her the other day getting out of her car

no one is sorry I am leaving, not even I; but there should be a minstrel or at least a glass of wine. bothers the young most, I think:

My father had two brothers. The younger was named Ben and the older was named John. Both were alcoholics and ne’er-do-wells. My parents often spoke of them. “Neither of them amount to a...