Reading is fun
Albert and the Underwear Man
by nate
Dress Code
by nate
Alone
by Corinn
Dance for me
by nate
Left Digestion
by Exley Steward
tamara's superfreak, superfreak, superfreakin' day
by tamara
Halloween Parade
by nate
Crime and Punishment
by Eve
John Mohammad's opening statement
by mike
Who Wants To Annoy A Millionaire?
by Eddie
You must be from the East Coast
by Eve
Hypodermic Pixie Stick
by Eddie
Lego Car
by Eddie
Myths of Hawaii
by Eve
sunday night cab ride
by raquel
regarding thongs
by anonymous female contributor
pop-tarts
by ericS
Turkey Baster
by nate
Hold tight monkey
by adina
my last fight
by nate
drunken bugs
by nate
Cheers
by nate
Scott & Louis meet Mr. T
by scott
cinder block dragging dogs
by jason
this guy who looks like Charles Bronson
by adam broomfield
Found Poetry
by ericS




cinder block dragging dogs
by jason
Saturday, August 17, 2002

His dad would attach cinder blocks to his pit-bulls and let the dogs drag them around the yard

To the right of the house in Fayetteville that I was raised in were two rows of apartments that sheltered enlisted men stationed at nearby Fort Bragg. To the rear of our five acre field, around four hundred yards from my back door, a small trailer park collected around twenty or thirty soldiers and Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. warehouse workers. To the left, two duplexes held the poorest families I have ever personally known.

Behind the duplex on the right lived Richard Jackson. His dad would attach cinder blocks to his pit-bulls and let the dogs drag them around the yard. Trails of worn dirt paths wormed their way through the thick centipede grass. A bizarre road map developed; the more travelled routes formed deeper grooves.The occasional transfer to a new route caused the dogs to lose footing momentarily and they would accelerate through the hazard with the brawn of a NC Trooper's Crown Victoria. Watching the bulky, rusted chains that shackled the dogs go from taut to slack and back again might remind you of one car towing another down a hilly road.

One night my mother, a tight lipped grip on her after dinner cigarette, stood in our yard pulling wind-hardened Levi's from the clothes line, saving them from a light evening rain. Across the field stood Angie, draped in a bacon-frier, flinging each of her husband's hard earned possessions from the front porch to the loose, oil stained sand. Her buldging fingers working at a fever's pitch, the fat from the bottoms of her arms swinging in time, Angie labored at removing her husband from their home.

My mother glanced to meet Angie's eyes and the work ceased.

"What the fuck are you looking at?", Angie asked. My mother, more shocked than offended, gave her the bird. Flipped her off with the grace usually witnessed in Russian ballets. And after pulling the last pair of then damp jeans from the line with the clothes pins intact, mother clucked her flip flops across the yard and up into the house.

A loaded shotgun was under the bed in my parents room, breached open. Vacation was a stolen three day weekend at Carowinds.

Southerner is the term I prefer, but I will answer to Redneck.


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