You are currently viewing the stories for “December 2003.”
Aspiring poets learn, early on, the value of concrete imagery; of replacing metaphorically huge words with small sensory explosions which blow the reader into reality. Allen Ginsberg didn't write "live life," he wrote of those "who lounged hungry and lonesome through Houston seeking jazz or sex or soup." Sylvia Plath didn't say, "I mourn the dead," but rather, "Thirty years [...]
“The movie was mad nice,” said Anissa. “That movie was the dumbest movie I ever seen,” Brian answered. “It was a waste of money. I thought that Event Horizon would be the scariest movie of the month, but turns out it was just another dumb movie.” Anissa answered, “The only reason you think it’s dumb is because you’re dumb and [...]
Dear Muze.com, I was out on the front stoop today, where I have to smoke now that the super of my building has declared the fire escape off limits, on account of he found a few cigarette butts on the pavement underneath. There’s a whole funny story about this, actually, considering my roommate begins tearing his hair out at the [...]
It was the day before the day before Christmas. Several puppies were carousing in the window of a pet store. The avenue was full of people. It was not the normal crowdedness, he felt. It was a less stressed out crowdedness, a crowd in the mood for lingering. He joined the crowd watching the puppies. They were separated into three [...]
On July 13, 1977, the power went out in New York City. What happened next depended on who and where you were. "This is the greatest," said a twenty-year-old in Rego Park. " People aren't afraid to come out of their houses. There are so many people on the street, nobody's getting mugged." "I want to go home," a Brooklyn [...]
K.Y. Grocery, near the corner of 83rd on the east side of York, is run by a Korean family who are friendly with the Japanese fish market that lies next door. If you are a regular, they will let you run small tabs if you’re short on cash, and they always round up or down to avoid pennies. Since it’s [...]
Whether they are Hispanic, Black, Asian, Jewish, White or Latin, whether they are riding the A, C, D, 1, 2, or, 3, the men who sit with their legs spread wide open on the subway do so with a Cro-Magnum sense of entitlement. illustration by elishacooper.com I asked a bunch of them why, exactly, they are sitting like that. "In [...]
