400 Words :life is literature

Compulsions

What can you not not do, even when you’d like to stop?

Folding Corners

Posted to Stories on the topic of Compulsions on 27 April 2008, with no comments so far.

by Shya—Age 30—New York City
I do this thing my friends call “folding corners.” I didn’t name it. It’s when I take a piece of fabric, usually the edge of a sleeve or that lovely little stitching right where a zipper is sewn on to the coat, or maybe even, OK, I’ll take the tip of […]

She Lived To Clean

Posted to Stories on the topic of Compulsions on 5 December 2006, with 2 comments so far.

by Sara — Age 86 — Cornwall, CT
My mother-in-law, a short, wiry bundle of energy with prematurely gray hair, was obsessed with cleanliness. When I sponge-wiped the kitchen table Sadie donned rubber gloves and followed after me, spraying the table with Fantastick and wiping it again with a cloth. I have to admit that when […]

I Measured My Face

Posted to Stories on the topic of Compulsions on 1 December 2006, with no comments so far.

by Kyle — Age 27 — Brooklyn, NY
The face of the pubescent boy changes fast. Previously oblivious that I materially existed, I was alerted in Jr. High by my peers that I was in possession of a large nose. A huge fuckin’ schnoz? A beak? Wasn’t there before. A kid, I was 12, a life-long […]

Folding Corners

Posted to Stories on the topic of Compulsions on 19 July 2006, with 4 comments so far.

>>The Prompt: Compulsions
I do this thing my friends call “folding corners.” I didn’t name it. It’s when I take a piece of fabric, usually the edge of a sleeve or that lovely little stitching right where a zipper is sewn on to the coat, or maybe even, OK, I’ll take the tip of the collar […]