“I was forced to save myself, and that forced me to learn how to float....

At first there's no lake in the city, at first there are only

elevators, at first there are only constricting office desks;

there are small apartments and hamburger joints and

unpaid telephone bills. Then a few nightclubs appear and

eventually the lake disinters. At times there's a highway

and a car and friends in a snowstorm heading nowhere but

back to the city and Sarah Vaughan is singing ...

Those tweets I sent about Duke Ellington

While my mom was being evicted again

According to what ethics under the sun

Can I possibly have been speaking? A

Kind of private feeling I can’t even place here

Like a rock on a tomb or the thank-you

Gift of a guest whose plane leaves long

Before dawn

I feel the little school of minnows

In me changing direction, wavering

Pieces of consciousness...

Water hollows stone,

wind scatters water,

stone stops the wind.

Water, wind, stone.

Wind carves stone,

stone's a cup of water,

water escapes and is wind.

Stone, wind, water.

Wind sings in its whirling,

water murmurs going by,

unmoving stone keeps still.

Wind, water, stone.

Each is another and no other:

crossing and vanishing

through their empty names:

water, stone, wind...

Water hollows stone,

wind scatters water,

stone stops the wind.

Water, wind, stone.

Wind carves stone,

stone's a cup of water,

water escapes and is wind.

Stone, wind, water.

Wind sings in its whirling,

water murmurs going by,

unmoving stone keeps still.

Wind, water, stone.

Each is another and no other:

crossing and vanishing

through their empty names:

water, stone, wind....

for Roger Caillois

Water hollows stone,

wind scatters water,

stone stops the wind.

Water, wind, stone.

Wind carves stone,

stone's a cup of water,

water escapes and is wind.

Stone, wind, water.

Wind sings in its whirling,

water murmurs going by,

unmoving stone keeps still.

Wind, water, stone.

Each is another and no other:

crossing and vanishing

through their empty names:

...

When I consider how my light is spent,

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,

And that one Talent which is death to hide

Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide;

“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need

Ei...

*READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED*

*GRAPHIC CONTENT*

I never thought my first lay would be a goat, but that’s exactly what it was.

I had just moved to a new college and I was desperately trying to fit in. Nobody wants to be a loner. I was 19 and eager to impress anyone and everyone. I did what any sensible young man would do in my situation; join a fraternity.

I should have realized when I joi...

It’s my first day as a junior in high school at my new school and my first day of tryouts for the volleyball team. I moved to this school because I was bullied I’m really shy. I’ve tried out every year and never made the team at my old school. The coach told me it’s because I don’t play year round like most of the girls so I’m not that good and I’m not as tall as them. I’m pretty sure it’s because...

I wanted to fit in, but I never thought it would lead to this. The games they started to play were getting far too dangerous for me. To be honest, I don’t believe the sorority would be worth the torture, but now I see the joy in it.

It started mild enough a game of chicken the last to move out of the way of the car on the highway was safe. I managed to pass this little initiation task, but a gir...