THANKS BUT NO

He was impressed. That was not what he expected to his invitation. He had not expected her to say yes. He thought she would ignore him or write something more addled. These three words were utterly direct and memorable....
Story at http://www.insidemydesk.com/fiction/liz.pdf

STORY-TELLING VACUUM

I grew up in a quiet household (Christian, small town, Republican) where story-telling was taboo – if not taboo at least seldom employed. Our house had bookshelves but more knick-knacks than books. There was the Holy Bible and several other religious books, mainly devotional, and some other odds and ends that I think were passed down from other family members....
Story at http://www.insidemydesk.com/fiction/vacuum.pdf 

LONG STORIES

Several stories that have emerged from the right hemisphere. In all three the idea for the story originated from something that happened or someone I knew: I was asked to run away by an engaged woman; I know people like those portrayed in the story; I've loved women I cannot forget. Otherwise lies in the form of fiction.

"Runaway", http://www.insidemydesk.com/fiction/runawayxp.pdf

"After Class", http://www.insidemydesk.com/fiction/afterclass.pdf

"The Sliding Glass Door", http://www.insidemydesk.com/fiction/slidingglassdoor.pdf 

POETRY

Some lines of poetry from a collection, Strong Is Your Hold, by Galway Kinnell:
From "The Stone Table" because they seem right.
I, who so often used to wish to float free
of earth, now with all my being wants to stay....
From "Pulling a Nail":
A spike driven long ago
resists being pulled--worse
than a stupefied wisdom tooth
whose roots, which have screwed
themselves into the jawbone,
reuse to budge....
From "Middle Path" in memory of James Wright:
You of all us us were able
to sit down forever, almost without self,
with pencil and notebook, with second sight,
wherever life and death meet.

Among the many volumes of poetry I own is Robert Hass, Sun Under the Wood. Several times I heard Hass read at Squaw Writers Workshop when I lived at Tahoe. He read several poems published in this volume including "Regalia for a Black Hat Dancer". My weight-lifting buddy was sitting next to me  That poem launched tears for both of us, and then he got up and left.

From another poem, "The Seventh Night", these final lines that he read that night:

From My Study, Like Me A Bush Turning White-Haired and Losing It.