LORENZ AND MADI were the type of couple everyone likes to have in their extended network. Madi was a school teacher. Lorenz was career minded without being opportunistic. Friday night, he had to work late and caught a cab across town to see her. He typed in her pass code at the building's front door and took the stairs two at a time up to the fourth floor.

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THE DRUNK GUY was only in town for a weekend. I didn't ask Jake how he met him. They picked me up in the drunk guy's sports car, and we went out to an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. We called the abandoned house the Blue Goose; no one lived there. It was just a place Jake and I would go to hustle. The house had been gutted, but the fireplace still worked. Jake got one going. The drunk guy pulled on the whiskey bottle. I had a guitar in my hand, doing finger exercises. I only know finger exercises and some chords, enough for a punk rock song, but I don't know how to make music. There was no convincing the drunk guy of that. He kept telling me I was a musician.

Continue reading It Takes One at Burnt Bridge

THEIR FATHER HANDED them envelopes with "$" written on the front in blue ink. The oldest brother, Doug, stuffed the envelope in his front pocket. The desert sun glared, penetrating into the shadows and warming the exhaust filled air.

Their father put a hand on each of their shoulders. He said, "Don't spend all of it at the first stop. There's no way to get money to you. Don't lose it."

The Apache Junction bus terminal was modern with mirrored glass windows. Concrete walls trapped the desert wind, creating small dust devils that danced around the edges of fresh black asphalt.

Tommy, the younger brother, opened his envelope. He made a disgusted sound. "Only ten dollars?"

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BOBBY POKED AT THE DIRT with a stick while the rest of the kids played kickball in the street. Two parked cars and pieces of cardboard were bases. They'd asked him to play but he just wanted to watch from the porch.

When the Cadillac turned down their street it was timeout. The windows were tinted but everyone knew it was Ty and Nat.

Continue reading Bobby at The Beat

I WANT TO BE DEAD. I am not thinking about divorce or mothers crying to God as their sons are taken away or the two guys in my company who were killed driving down a thousand year old street. I am thinking about my life and all the life that surrounds me and flowers and sunshine. I want to be dead. My apartment is within walking distance from work. That had been my only criteria when I had moved out; I needed an apartment within walking distance from work. I woke up, brushed my teeth, took a shower, dressed, and walked to work.

Continue reading Journal 7/5th at Public Republic

KENDELL LEANED FORWARD taking the sheets with him. He flicked his cigarette into the ashtray on the floor. Lydia groaned and pulled back on the sheets. He let her have them.
It was time for the sun to come up but with the clouds and the rain it was still dark. A trash truck at the end of the block was shaking out a dumpster. He grabbed the ashtray and walked to the bathroom. He wanted a shower and a shave before getting back in the bed with Lydia. He was going to make sure this was a day both of them would remember.

Continue reading Walk Like A Man at Retort Magazine

Prison Cell MP3 (6:41 min)

The is an excerpt from a short story that contains explicit language and strong violent images.
For more information about prisons in the United States, visit www.prisonsucks.com.