Thursday, June 11, 2015

We are Night Swimming and The New York Stories excerpt at the REVOLUTION JOHN.

I am also quite appreciative to the Sam Slaughter and Sheldon Lee Compton and the whole Revolution John crew for making it so. Excerpt? Word.

"I open the window on the back porch and begin pushing and prying the plywood off that covers it. At first there is no give, but soon there is movement, cracking, and a web-like splinter racing along the board as it bends, then shatters in my bare hands.

I’m hit with a blast of muddy air as a tree branch immediately pushes its way through the window, followed by the fecund, swampy smell of the storm as it blows through the backyard, tossing the smaller trees and bushes to and fro.

When the board is in pieces at my feet, I remove my shirt, wrap it around my hand, and punch through the remaining glass which is hanging before me like jagged teeth.
After step I carefully step through the window, my jeans and Air Jordans still on, little rivulets of blood now streaking down my back, I lower myself into the flood waters that are crashing their way down South Mountain and cascading through the neighborhood.

I hold onto the window frame for one moment, then two, and then take a deep breath before letting go and swimming into the maul of water now surrounding me."

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