Robert McDiarmid

Ginger Men are a proud people. We are bread in deep, surprisingly peppery, cultural origins. It is in our prime ingredients to know that our…

DEAR JOHN, “These letters have gotten a LOT more complicated than they used to be.”, she thought to herself, letting the Johnny Walker work it’s…

I was in an angry, hurried rush. Who calls a 7am meeting on a Monday morning anyway? I was madly sipping a coffee, and rushing…

He came to a rest under an enormous California oak. The arms of the tree disappearing above him into the last hints of daylight. The…

“Even food shows are angry these days, with women throwing stuff and calling each other bitches… it’s awful… and then they cut to an interview…

The wedding dinner settled down as he tapped his glass with his fork.  He took a card out of his suit jacket. He’d practiced, and…

A few dvds, a pair of earphones, and some neatly folded tshirts and underwear sat there. Every night when I came home the small box…

I hardly recognized the young boy in photo, walking in the surf, letting the late summer waves frolic with his hands. That beach. It had…

“I’m sorry…I guess I’m just nervous. I’ve never been taken home to meet someone’s parents before, let alone conservative parents who come with a pre-prepared…

I broke through my hangover to clean up from last night’s party. There in the bottom of a large bowl was a single triscuit. I…

He was the softest, most tender person I’d ever met. Every touch, every conversation, every sigh of pleasure was a salve. He rode into my…

We met on the old wooden stairs of the old DC Eagle. It had this big dramatic landing between flights of stairs, with enough room…

टायर टायर, उज्ज्वल जलते हुए, रात के जंगलों में; क्या अमर हाथ या आंख, तुम्हारी भयानक समरूपता को चौड़ा कर सकता है (Tyger Tyger, burning…

“You’re a bastard, you know that? Fuck you!” were the last words I ever heard her say, as she slammed the door. I can’t say…

We celebrated our own unique independence in the dark alley away from the summer revelry. I ran his shirt up, exploring his firm muscles and…

She died in the manner that she’d been in life – with not a single thought to how it would affect other people. I was…

I had driven by the place a dozen times over the past few months trying to get the nerve to walk in. I remember the…

“That was the hubby,” he said setting the phone down on the table, “Just reminding me that we wanted to nap before the dyke march…

He wasn’t sure how he was going to put it all back together. He’s been home six months now and it was clear that nothing…

They warned you in training that the desert could be cold. Having grown up in Puerto Rico, it was what he feared the most. So…

A dear friend of mine died this week. As is my habit – I am not a public griever – and I usually turn to…

Mornings are like a blessing handed to us directly from God. I have been awake for almost every one since the fall of 1972. You…

She re-read the spell carefully. All of the spells so far had been excellent, but this one was the most complex yet. Eye of newt.…

“Chopin. Again,” he thought to himself, listening in the night as the woman in 9A practiced piano. She always fumbled at the same place. He…

“Today will be fool of awbsome”, he said somberly. “Today will be full of awesome, mon spécial,” Celeste affirmed. “I donna understand why I can…

She was on the beach – surrounded by friends. They caught me looking, and their laughter disappeared to giggles behind their hands. She gazed back…

He woke up from the dream startled. “How did I get back here, what is this? oh, I’m in my room and it’s Thursday. and…

It is interesting how these events stick in us, every detail. The photo was a singularity. The little girl with the perfect Shirley Temple curly…

He’d come up the path seeking forgiveness, only to hear impenetrable, uncomfortable silence. The kind that tears into the soul laying all it’s faults to…

How could I be normal? My parents’ values were God and carpeting. In the spring of 1975, it was installed. A blinding beige shag. If…

Today is week 1 of the ‘150-Words-A-Week Club’ – using a “muse” photo as a jumping off point – writers are writing a 150-300 word…

The butcher always had signs of sweat and hard work about him. I put little colored pencil gold stars next to the ingredients I’d need…

Reimagine the womb as this rocking New York high rise apartment. Lots of space, unlimited food. Two men having these long conversations together. They’d play…

His back against the big oak tree, he could see the entire lake. The splatter of wet red and yellow leaves suspended in the tall…

We put away our suit jackets and put the ties back on the hanger in the closet. He came to me silently and retrieved the…

“When it becomes important enough to you, you’ll figure out how to change it, but only then,” he said to me suddenly. He sat across…

The man looked around the room noticing the overwhelming sameness. It was a round turret shaped room with stark white walls, white sheets, white dresser,…

He had this incredibly gentle way of navigating the world. In retrospect, it is not surprising he was the first gay man I felt in…

“I think Stan Lee is gay.” “and what do we base this amazing revelation upon?” “Just look at his body of work, sculpted abs on…

It was the type of morning that would inspire the dreariest Emily Dickinson poem. The moon hung in the sky, shining through a slurry of…

“I’ve seen you at the gym and at a few parties. It’s nice to see you here.” “Why is that nice?” “Well, at the gym…

A broken champagne flute, a holiday tradition it seemed, was stuffed, defeated, in the corner. The small home still smelled of roasted turkey – and…

From my view across the coffeehouse, what I noticed most though, were the dark tattoos covering his hands. They reminded me of the kind of…

“How could I have known she’d start crying and scream ‘rape’?” “You have anger issues. ‘Hate the sin, love the sinner’ is what they say,…

The dream broke suddenly and I was awake. I glanced over at the clock reading 4:30 a.m. I stumbled in the kitchen in my boxers…

By 1988, there had been 61,816 deaths in the U.S. alone. I was twenty-one. Two years later, nearly twice as many Americans had died of…

“Does it mean I’m old when the latest cool thing baffles me?” “Keep in mind, you’ve said previously that you miss AOL. So your reviews…

“You know in the old west, they’d cook on the campfire and sleep by it all night. It was the center of their social circle.…

I was sitting in the airport. It was the usual whirling dervish of people moving in every direction. I stared down at my boarding pass…

I sat riverside watching the river flow by, skipping rocks across the surface. The cottonwoods were shedding and there was a soft stream of puffs…

It was a rainy night in the neighborhood, when I saw him through a restaurant window. He didn’t even know I was there. I stopped…

I’d rented a car for the first time and escaped to Rehoboth. I was stationed at Norfolk. I counted the miles between me and the…

The young girl examined the vegetables. Being shorter, she felt most attached to the carrot on the bottom. She didn’t realize she’d bring the whole…

I stood across the street where the bus had dropped me. I looked both ways before crossing the street, checking traffic and to also double…

“He’s so hairy he should be wearing a full body hair net. I think he should have to manscape before before working over food.” “I…

I would ask each Saturday morning of September if it was time yet, even if it was 80 degrees outside. One quiet Saturday morning we’d…

I love lunches with Martika. When she’d come to work for me, I was the first real-life homosexual she’d ever met. I’ve tried to represent…

“So we had a nice dinner out together before the movie, at that noodle place on 14th?” “Oh that is a good one!” “And as…

He set the glass down and watched the wine slosh around in the glass. NPR commentators with impossibly complicated multiracial power names rattled on about…