26

JA S O N M O T T

sleep takes me is the darkness of The Kid. I see his skin. It’s darker than the darkness of sleep. And then he grins and his pearly whites shine like snow on dogwoods. Then The Kid fades away. His smile lingers, but then it’s gone too. As sleep finally gets its fishhooks into me, I offer up a heartfelt “Poor kid” for the pitch-black boy I met today. Living a life looking like that in a world that works the way this one does? . . . I wouldn’t hang that noose around anybody’s neck.

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– Hell of a Book: A Novel by Jason Mott – 26

3/1/21

7:10 PM