Words

  • Meddling Honor

    Meddling Honor

    For this assignment, we were supposed to have a three-person dialogue about video games without using quotes or identifying markers. I kind of cheated here by adding color, but I’m sure no one will really care either way.

  • I Know, I Know

    I Know, I Know

    The purpose of this assignment was to help us construct the smallest story without having to write an introduction, and to concentrate on developing the story and characters in what was implied rather than said. In case you’re wondering, they are not on ecstasy.

  • Mr. Reman

    Mr. Reman

    The assignment was to write about a serial killer doing something mundane, like shopping. I’m sorry but I just can’t help but think in the future. The main character in this story was originally named Mr. Rivus, but I had to use that name somewhere more important.

  • A Little Role Play

    A Little Role Play

    This assignment was to write a dialogue between two people without using identifying markers like, “he said,” and “said Kari.” I don’t remember what the content requirements were, but I would guess there weren’t any. My professors are good about that.

  • Probably Not the Greatest Story Ever Told

    Probably Not the Greatest Story Ever Told

    The assignment here was to “write the worst, horriblest story” I could. I’m sure it could’ve been worse, but I wanted to be somewhat readable. Though I’m sure I missed a few, I tried to break every rule I could think of, including (but not limited to) grammar, spelling, coherency, decency, and blasphemy. How many…

  • Shifting Sands

    Shifting Sands

    This is a short story about two men in the middle of the Iraq war from each person’s perspective. One is American and the other is Iraqi. I messed up this assignment because it was supposed to have three perspectives, which threw my creative writing class off. They were confused as to who was speaking.…

  • Dude…Chicks

    Dude…Chicks

    The assignment was to write from the perspective of someone who is wearing two different shoes and suddenly realizes it. They were supposed to think that everyone noticed and (I guess) freak out about it. My only fear with this story (besides how insufferably lame it is) is that someone might completely miss the irony.…

  • When Good Characters Go Bad

    When Good Characters Go Bad

    I originally started writing a story where the author torments the main character by putting him in various weird situations. I set it aside for a long time until I was told to write a metafiction story. I pulled out the sections that did not fit my new story and wrote the rest months later.…

  • The Drug Dealer

    The Drug Dealer

    This was an assignment where I was supposed to read T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “The Hit Man” and rewrite it using any other profession. It is intended to be a humorous piece about the life of a drug dealer. Special thanks to Boyle for not suing me (yet) for “borrowing” the idea. Try not to take…

  • There Is No Spoon

    There Is No Spoon

    There is a scene in the movie “The Matrix” where the main character, Neo, is visiting a so-called oracle. As he waits to see her, he looks at the other “potentials” that stay with her. These potentials, all children, are able to manipulate objects using what appears to be telekinesis. At one point, Neo leans…

  • Last Testament

    Last Testament

    I don’t remember what the assignment was here, but I know I wrote it for a class. It could’ve been a really vague assignment like “write a 1500 word story with first-person dialogue.” I really don’t know. All I do know is that it was inspired by events going on at the time. 9/11 occurred…

  • Absence

    Absence

    This short story focuses on the experiences of one man that finds himself unwilling to deal with the rest of humanity and his decision to leave society. After a time, strange things begin to happen in the skies above him, and he eventually finds himself wanting to reconnect with the people he had once abandoned.…

  • The Evolution of the Signal

    The Evolution of the Signal

    We are able to consume a lot of information, and there is a lot to be consumed, so those who present it must be aware of how it is organized.

  • My Statement of Aesthetics

    My Statement of Aesthetics

    Initially, I took my first poetry class because I thought that poetry and prose were two completely different things, and I needed to explore my poetic side. But as the semester progressed I quickly discovered that they are imperatively inseparable. Poetry keeps prose fresh, healthy, and beautiful. I have compared some of my prose from…

  • Trinity

    Trinity

    In a time before Ground Zero meant something else, After our cousins Einstein, Teller, and Oppenheimer, In an empty desert guarded by squat mountains, Humanity took its first step into another age With the detonation of a bomb named Trinity. We viewed the Opening from miles away, As creatures with fragile bodies must do. Even…

  • KTXT: Lubbock’s Only Propaganda Alternative

    I grew up in this area, so I was around when KTXT became “Lubbock’s only alternative.” And, I’m old enough to remember the “this is your brain on drugs” commercials on TV. I agree that there are bad drugs out there that can harm people, but I also believe there are good drugs that can…

  • Circle

    Circle

    infinite sides and points generated within Euclidian geometry framework, expressing natural beauty, finite in design yet infinite in possibilities, creating completely unlimited sides and angles and points complex actions are condensed into simple equations, as the pie are squared, bringing all points together

  • Dog Spiel

    Dog Spiel

    In our schools and public places The meme of submission minus reason perpetuates, Replicates like bacteria in our sweet minds. We live, some learn, and work ourselves to death, But that was why we were created, wasn’t it? So much needless and mindless discussion, Of things that do and can change nothing. Philosophists invent discussions,…

  • The Gospel

    The Gospel

    God, protect me from your people, With closed minds and blind third eyes. Misinformation and half-truths Are barely discernable from the lies. I’ve felt your presence and your power, My biology is impossible to deny. But I do not fear to think these thoughts, I’d rather know uncomfortable truths than reassuring lies. I appreciate all…

  • Out of Palce

    Out of Palce

    I was not in my right mind, I think. While on vacation in Constantinople, I thought I found a nice local café Where I could snuggle up with a dry martini. I thought I’d found a cozy place, But discovered my mistake too late. I sat down at a round table, with only one chair,…

  • Cosmos XI. The Persistence of Memory

    Cosmos XI. The Persistence of Memory

    Information is important to Life, and Earth is positively rippling with both. Quasi-intelligent beings that never see the light of day live on inside us, While mindless molecular machines copy our biological biography With the guided precision of a skilled craftsman. All living creatures store libraries of information in their genes, But many beings are…

  • Cosmos VIII. Travels in Space and Time

    Cosmos VIII. Travels in Space and Time

    Before the Sun rose and set in the sky of Earth, A giant blue-green rock spun lazily around its star. Then a being, mostly calling itself Man, Gave names to these gods of the ground and sky. Our solitary sun floats with its family of planets. A grain of sand in a beach too massive…

  • Cosmos XII. Encyclopaedia Galactica

    Cosmos XII. Encyclopaedia Galactica

    Ethereal lights in the sky, unexplainable phenomena, And alleged astronauts older than any nation Lead many to believe we’re inundated with uninvited guests. Though I wish it were so, it probably just isn’t true. It could be that we have not been discovered, And our xenophobia causes us to see lights in the sky. Besides,…

  • Hey Babe

    Hey Babe

    I’ll read this note aloud to you now, So you can laugh at me later. It won’t take long, so don’t interrupt, In fact, it’s halfway over. Come cruise with me onboard the Eclipse, And bake the bread of knowledge. I learned today of the coelacanth, Heresy, it seems, is taught in college.

  • A Sudden Waste of Time

    A Sudden Waste of Time

    After breakfast, in my silly slippers and cotton pajamas, I shuffled out into the cold of morning to retrieve my mail. Among the coupons I’ll never use and advertisements I’ll never read, Was a letter with a smiley face where the return address should have been. Starting to shiver slightly, I opened it, And though…

  • Introinspection

    Introinspection

    I find a nice park bench to rest for a moment, While the ambience of the city roars all around me. Here in the shade, near a busy playground, My mind goes idle, and I open my treat. The soft brown cube disappears in my mouth: The warm, buttery sweetness of creamy, melted caramel. My…

  • The River of Entropy

    The River of Entropy

    I imagine the Cosmos, infinite and remote. I reflect on our sun, the perfect planetary host. I consider our world, the pale blue home of the Earthlings, I think of this forest, and of this path I tread. Intentionally lost among Appalachian giants, I wander a chaotic, forkful path. Willfully losing myself in the grandeur,…

  • While Watching the News

    While Watching the News

    One sock, two sock, Red sock, blue sock. What the hell? That’s not a pair. Shorts, shirts, pants and underwear. After work on my neighbor’s Sabbath Is my time to unwind and relax my mind. I stretch and I fold, I smooth and I sort, I bring order to the bedlam. The only thing…to interrupt…

  • Aisha

    Aisha

    Today in the park, I watched the denizens of my town, Going about their business, about their day. I noticed a massive woman scolds her minuscule daughter. Her voice was firm and serious, but clearly full of love. Then later, a man with gold chains barked at his wife, And her posture alluded to unknown…

  • Nature vs. Nurture

    To make it perfectly clear, this is an analogy, as I do not have enough evidence to prove otherwise. We are born, and according to our DNA, in there is how we would respond to every question that could ever be asked or every event that could come before us. Whether or not it is…

  • sickle and sword

    sickle and sword

    i have an endless number of names throughout the ages whatever my nom de plume, i am the author of insanity inside the minds throughout all of time and space and now i will vindicate the credenda of sages bringing forth a deadly agent, bred by humanity weed out the weak willed, and restart the…

  • Top 10 Good Things about 9/11

    Top 10 Good Things about 9/11

    10. We are cracking down on terrorism. With the horrors of terrorism reaching so vast an audience, the world’s new focus on defeating terrorism may one day save us from each other and ourselves. 9. The odds are in our favor. The chance of anyone dying today (or any other day) is always the same.…

  • The Community

    The Community

    Here on our island in the middle of the Sea, My ninety-nine siblings and I live as kin. We are raised together as a family Taught only of love, and rarely of sin. We all have one Father and no mother But we know we were made from one. He is the creator of this…

  • Skywatcher

    Skywatcher

    We ride this world, an island of the cosmos Which falls forever towards our sun. We’re perched on the cosmic beach Poised to hold on to one. The jet-black dome is alive with light Ancient energy illuminates the night. The sky is worthy of Heaven, Graced by the upstart Sisters of Seven, With the Hunter,…

  • Grammer

    Grammer

    Speaking English is not hard Though one could hardly tell. Just walk this nation, from coast to coast And you’ll experience linguist’s Hell. In one place, a metaphor Would make but perfect sense. But then there’s the misunderstanding That makes the mood too tense. When in Rome, speak like Texans It’s possible to start a…

  • Waiting to Pounce

    Waiting to Pounce

    The hunter crouches beside a desolate road Watching as the entourage drives by. He fixates on one vehicle in particular, A pair of diplomat flags demand his attention. The beast’s flat olive armor reflects Nothing, as though the light is being sucked back in. A true social evil rides comfortably inside, Rings inside rings form…

  • Connections

    Connections

    Growing up in this society Tends to erase the variety By restricting your options And forcing conformation People say it’s not okay To do this or do that But somehow, for some reason Its okay to be stupid but not fat. Everything that we say Is subject to fierce scrutiny. And everything that we do…

  • Attack on America: My First Reaction

    Attack on America: My First Reaction

    About an hour ago Kari woke me up talking about planes and hijacking or something. She was so serious that I hopped immediately out of bed and we flipped on the television. Slowly it occurred to me how serious this really was. I saw the tower of the World Trade Center smoking like an oil…

  • A Flowing Event

    A Flowing Event

    This is the first complete short story I wrote in college. It was for one of my first English classes and no particular directive.

  • My Stance on Cloning

    My Stance on Cloning

    Whether you like it or not, human cloning is on it’s way. In fact, it is so much on it’s way that it is quite possible that at the time of this writing, a human being may now be growing up as a direct result of being cloned. These ethical implications and moral questions are…

  • For Help, Press F1

    For Help, Press F1

    Why do you punish people, For doing what they enjoy? Would you punish a little child, For playing with his favorite toy? If I am going to suffer, I‘ll do these things anyway, For if I‘m going to roast, I‘ll enjoy myself today. (Chorus) Of all of the abilities you gave me, Why did you…

  • Nessie

    Nessie

    This is the first short story I ever wrote. It is, unfortunately, based on an entirely true story. I got tired of telling over and over again.