#thediagram

[thevulgar]

UNHELPFUL INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR BUSINESS CASUAL ETIQUETTE  | Holly Brown

In the places where I remember misbehaving there are no floors. I once latched onto my mother’s neck with my baby teeth. I once

had sex under a tree during a thunderstorm. We were on a golf course. Nobody clapped politely when it was all over. The thunder was all over everything    

already. The section "other information" on my resume reads: Never been struck by lightning but hopes to someday

for the story. This appears on the reverse side above: Enjoys giving hickeys to see that shade of purple and not because she’s possessive.

I am glad that no future employer has ever flipped my resume over. I am already wearing my pajamas at the interview; the ones with the pink elephants

so I’m not even being subtle about it. When asked what my greatest assets are I say “sounds like you’re an ass man” and chew on my thumb nail.

I only ever steal things that aren’t for sale: bar beer steins, restaurant cutlery. I’m a time thief and I’ll talk your ear off about my affinity

for Camel cigarettes and wine on sale at Walgreens. I am always playing games of hide and seek that no one else acknowledges.

The best part is I never lose. The worst part is no one can hide with me. I do not want to be alone. I never want to be found.

[thevulgar]

YOU THINK YOU ARE LESS REAL THAN YOU ARE | Wendy Xu

You put on some new pants. I put on some sunlight. I put on a coyote. You put on a bigger coyote. You put on all of the coyotes! You put on the sand as it flies beneath your incredible little paws. I put on rain not reaching the desert. You put on how we feel sad after this. You put on the sadness. You put on methods for dealing with it. The sadness tries to put you on but you say No! You wrestle the sadness to the ground. You are big and need large wings. You put on the large wings. You are still a coyote. You put on the howling. You put on things that howl back. There is nothing you won’t put on. You put on the darkness. You put on some stars and even what is between them. You put on the moon. The moon that shines! You put on how we want to stay here! You put on how we forget where we were before. You put on the earth how it cracks. You put on its face when it sees us.

[literaryartifacts]

from “Three Pieces” by Kelly Connor, via DIAGRAM

[thevulgar]

THE KENNETH ARNOLD UFO SIGHTING | Curtis Rogers

The state I'm in, I'm no good to my medication. Suspended in perma-bobble on the dashboard, traditional Hawaiian garb. I closely brush with a fate I Googled. Nine stringy pie plates skipping on possible's lake. Something that doesn't sit right is my M.O. I stir my drink & the ice wags loyally. This isn't a franchise of the stress hormone cortisol. It's a promise Ferris wheeled by social media. Not going anywhere you couldn't guess, the fear of. I'm stuck in the synapse of my ways, like a crowd-lancing glimpse. The shutting-off TV folds flash like a napkin in its lap. Meditative breath spread- eagled into lungs. Sometimes, doing good by yourself entails a bum deal. A shoal of possible side effects, show of hands from showstoppers. My pharmacist sends me a message, "what's up," on Facebook. I rest my elbows on a burning table. Stir drinks a stone skips across. Gone unexplainable somewhere in an hourly luxury sedan, I kiss an arm with a mean right hook. I learn the hard way if at all possible. You can't divine purpose from a commercial-broken surface, but you can steal away to where hibiscus repeats. When I wrote sunset I meant to write subset. I'm being impolite, but I'm alone. My feet are up on the table up in flames. The excited membrane leaks with spray tan. & I have my doubts about what happens in this shirt's cotton. Breadcrumbs like pageant contestants line behind a curtain. Hearing my name in the crowd I don't turn.

[thevulgar]

ON A ROCK DESCRIBING WATER | Travis-David Beckett

on a rock describing water

[alwaysalreadyangry]

This is not true but it is scholarly. The present is easier when it follows a history. She knew she could not move her limbs under him because she had not moved her limbs under him all winter.

DIAGRAM :: Katy Gunn

from 'from Hermione'

first favourite poem of 2014, go and read it