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Saturday, January 31, 2026

ham and cheese


by bofa xesjum




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a square named cheese
and a hipster named ham
met in a sandwich
at 4 ay am

they both fell in love with
a girl named mustard
their attentions
left her flustered

she had her sights set
on a media career
and worked for an old man
who called her, my dear

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but ham and cheese
would not be denied
and invited her
on a moonlight ride

after some thought
she politely declined
and decided to report them
to a hotline

she left a message
but got no reply
by the old mill stream
in the sweet bye and bye

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Wednesday, January 28, 2026

fault


by nick nelson



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maybe you should reconsider.

that would be unkind.

pete came by last ight

i don’t know what he was expecting.

everybody says the same thing.

let it go.

you don’t understand.

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this is getting to be not a joke.

remember the last time something like this happened.

i remember very well.

it was all eddie’s fault.

some people blamed tony.

not me.

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suddenly the doorbell rang.

how can this happen?

it was supposed to be guaranteed.

can i help you?

is fred ingersoll here?

never heard of him.

but does he live here? yes or no?

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no.

you back there, are you fred ingersoll?

no.

do you know hm? ever hear of him?

no, no, and no.

i asked you two questions, not three.

i do not know any fred ingersoll, and never heard of him.

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thank you. i have a message for fred ingersoll.

leave it somewhere else.

i was instructed to leave it here.

since neither of us know fred ingeroll, or ever heard of him, it probably will not get passed on.

i am going to leave it here.

do what you got to do.

all right - oh no!

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what?

the piece of paper i had the message for fred ingersoll on - i don’t have it

too bad.

it must have fallen out of my pocket when i put my hand in it to make sure it was there.

could be. these things happen.

it must be blowing down the street right now.

that’s always a possibility.

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which way does the wind blow around here?

down the street.

thank you, that’s very helpful.

what are you, sarcastic? we didn’t invite you here.

sorry, i did not mean to be rude. if i find the message, i wll be back.

take your time.

goodbye for now.

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where were we?

you were saying it was eddie’s fault.

and you were saying it was tony’s .

that sounds about right.

that guy.

what guy?

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the guy who was just here.

what about him?

i bet he was fred ingersoll.

i suppose he could have been.

stranger things have happened.

all the time.

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Saturday, January 24, 2026

guy


by dog e relaford




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some thought he was a monster
some thought he was a saint
some thought him the epitome of style
others that he was quaint

some thought he was nasty
some thought he was rather sweet
some would follow him to hell and back
others not across the street

some thought him courteous
some thought him rude
maybe he was both
depending on his mood

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he came out of nowhere
and took the world by storm
they took him down to headquarters
to fill out a form

he wrote “name here”
in the space marked “name here”
he was a rebel
and had nothing to fear

they put him in a cell
marked three twenty one
the moon was in the sky
but he was the sun

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some thought he was a robot
some thought he was a plant
when pressed for an answer
he said, no such word as “can’t”

some thought he was a monster
some thought he was a saint
some thought he was wood
others thought he was paint

many did not care
other wondered why
deep down inside
he was just a guy

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Thursday, January 22, 2026

harlequin


by genghis gilgamesh



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henry had a harlequin
he kept it in the yard
the creature was not amusing
but it tried hard

it couldn’t sing
and it couldn’t dance
it could not bake brownies
and was not suited for romance

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it couldn’t juggle wineglasses
or balance bowling balls on its head
it stayed up all day
and went to bed

henry left the kingdom
and went on a trip
with a golden sword
held firmly in his grip

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let to its own devices
the harlequin stayed home
with the happy that was greece
and the sad that was rome

someday the sun
will revolve around the earth
snakes and dinosaurs will dance
in a ritual of rebirth

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Tuesday, January 20, 2026

mailbox - 2. vince and gus


by bofa xesjum

part 2 of ?

for previous episode, click here




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in the safety of his room, with the door securely locked and the shade pulled down, augustus took the mysterious letter from his pocket with trembling hands.

the envelope was addressed to -

vincent r tomlinson
128 blueberry pancake highway
unit 1
parkersville oregon. 96744

with a return address of -

gus b kringleton
1279 zane grey boulevard
apartment 63496
yokahama nippon 564-gd3

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dear vince, the letter began.

i hope you are well,

i got to thinking of you the other night when i shot and killed a man just outside of vladivistok just for something to do.

it reminded me of the great old days when you and me and poor old stace terrorized the northern territories and kept the so-called establishement on the hop - or on their toes. ha ha.

anyways, i was wondering if you would like to join me in getting back to those days, when guys like you and me had so much fun. they called us serial killers and he scum of the earth and such, but hey, isn’t life about enjoying yourself in the short time we all have on earth?

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i got some good places all mapped out where we could start.

hoping to hear from you, old buddy,

your old pal,

gus raise a fuss

the letter fell from augustus’s hand.

he was horrified.

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he had to contact the authorities.

but he was not sure who the authorities were, or how to contact them.

a terrible thought flashed through his brain.

he had opened the letter! a letter not addressed to himself.

was that not a crime? he had a vague notion that it was.

augustus did not want to go to jail, or to a prison camp in a desert or an arctic waste.

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to be continued



Monday, January 19, 2026

mailbox - 1. in the shadows


by bofa xesjum

part 1 of ?




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it was a dark and windy night.

a man stood in the shadows watching a mailbox.

you do not see as many mailboxes as you used to on city streets, but they are still out there.

as the man in the shadows watched, the wind picked up a piece of paper - a letter? - that was stuck in the opening of the mailbox, and lifted it so that it, still stuck, would be visible in its whiteness to any random passerby.

perfect, he thought.

*
augustus brown went for a walk every saturday night no matter how good or bad the weather was.

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he had been doing it since he was fourteen years old.

it was just his way.

when he was introduced to people, which was not very often, he would try to bring the conversation around to the fact that he took these walks.

augustus was five feet nine and a half inches tall and weighed 176 pounds.

his favorite movie was “the animal”, starring stanley o’hara and zora young.

his favorite song was “wild is my heart”, as sung by norine sue.

he did not have a favorite book. he preferred taking long walks in the dark city streets, to reading books.

but he did spend hours reading the online posts of strangers, especially on the most inflammatory political issues of the day, even though he never posted anything himself, about anything.

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on a scale of 1 to 100, 1 being the least interesting and 100 the most interesting, augustus rated an average of 14 to his fellow inhabitants of the planet.

on the dark and windy evening on which our narrative commences, augustus approached a corner at which a mailbox stood beside the traffic light.

he noticed a white piece of paper - a letter? - stuck in the slot of the mailbox and fluttering in the strong breeze.

you do not see as many mailboxes as you used to on city streets, but they are still out there.

augustus’s curiosity was piqued. he gently removed the letter from the slot.

not only was the address handwritten, but the return address on the upper left corner of the envelope was handwritten as well. you do not see that very often these days.

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augustus was a somewhat inquisitive person - 53 on a scale of 1 to 100 - and had no particluar respect for the privacy of others, so he put the letter in his pocket, to open and read at his leisure when he returned to his room.

the man in the shadows smiled.


next



Monday, January 5, 2026

johnny's picture


by dog e relaford



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johnny drew a picture
he drew it in his head
the sky was blue
and the leaves were red

the grass was green
but was turning brown
the bus was late
on its way from town

johnny was sad
because the bus was late
was this, he wondered
to be his fate?

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the bus arrived
driven by a cow
the cow had no license
johnny got on anyhow

the sky turned gray
it started to rain
no one ever saw
poor johnny again

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