they say in the inlet’s sandy shoals a wet little island rides the tides where legend recalls a man’s repose deeper than where the ghost crabs hide
his ship with weather-stained canvas sails tossed in the churn between withered lands his orders snapped like his waistcoat’s tails until heaved and marooned by all plotting hands
he swam to the island and paced twelve strides drenched with showers of blowing spray so high was the nighttime’s hungry tide he dared not hope to see the day
but one morning stretched to two and more and thirst began cracking his salty throat he decided to dig until his fingers tore and seams ripped open his decaying coat
down he lay as the waters flowed seabirds soaring over his drowsing head until rising seas made his hole erode his two last achievements--buried and dead
(Inspired on the ferry ride today between Hatteras and Ocracoke Island.)
I thought I got some workable material, and this morning I proved it on Photoshop. Folks, we're good to go!
If you're an old Clarity of Night contest pro, this photo is DIFFERENT. I think you'll like it. Rather surreal. Plenty of room for millions of interpretations.
In accordance with tradition, I will be sending out a sneak peek of the photo and announce the name by email next week. If you haven't participated in a contest before and want to be on my mailing list (or if you don't get an email by the end of next week and want one), then drop me a line at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com. I'd be happy to add you.
Look for the contest to begin in mid-July. Just as a reminder, this contest will not follow the format of the last. All entries will be publicly posted. HOWEVER, the number of entries will be subject to limitation, so this time, you don't want to wait until the end. You deadline dancers out there are going to have to get in gear this time around!
Day turns to night Night turns to whatever we want We're young enough to say This has gotta be the good life This has gotta be the good life This could really be a good life --One Republic, Good Life
He made coffee that filled the apartment with the smell of burn and sweet.
He sat. Blue sky glowed above the city outside his windows. Morning light washed the streets far below.
Work in forty-five minutes.
No use rushing. But no use sticking around in his small, annoying apartment either. He sipped and concentrated on enjoying the taste.
He thought about breakfast, but didn’t stand up from his chair in the end. All the sunshine penetrated only halfway. Night still lingered somewhere under his clothes. He would go back to bed, probably, if given the choice. Nothing would really propel him into the outside world.
A knock at the door startled him.
Strange. No one bothered him.
He tip-toed over to peep through and see if he should pretend not to be home.
It was the girl he had been thinking about more lately. The one who he started small talk with weeks ago and now had almost regular conversations with him.
He opened the door.
“Hi,” she said. She looked even more nervous than he felt.
“Hey,” he managed.
“I didn’t mean to barge in on you.”
“Are you, I mean, is everything okay?” he said.
“Oh yes. Everything is fine. Totally fine.”
“I just, I mean, I wasn’t--”
“I can go, if you’re busy.”
“No!” he said. “Please.”
As she stepped inside, he wanted to ask her why on Earth she came. Did he forget something? Drop his wallet or do something else equally stupid?
She seemed to sense the question. “I was kind of having breakfast,” she said, “and a thought suddenly hit me really strong. I just got up, caught a cab, and well, knocked on your door.”
He must have looked even more confused.
Her face changed. “I realized that I would much rather have breakfast with you,” she said.
dark is more than the absence of light dark is the raising of the gossamer curtain dark is quiet’s kiss dark is the hush before the first cricket sings dark is where I listen to you
Does anyone have one of those dream analysis books?
Good. I need some help on this one.
Let’s say you dreamed that you and two other people found yourselves chased in a city, captured, and held captive by a psychopathic bad guy.
At some point, let’s say you manage to wrap a wooden handle around his necktie and (mostly) choke him to death. Thus, you escape.
Once loose in the city, the three of you get separated. As you run on alone, you get the feeling that the bad guy is going to appear behind you, even though it’s not really possible for him to find you after running so far.
He does appear behind you. As a zombie.
You kill him nice and good this time.
After running more, you find yourself on a university campus. However, something’s not right. As the students move towards you, they look like creepy versions of little children. At this point, you suspect that you are hallucinating and may be psychotic.
The killed zombie reappears and bites your hand.
You counterattack and start ripping apart his skull with your clawed fingers.
The zombie screams kind of like your friend.
You realize it *is* your friend. More hallucinating, apparently.
Your dream-self then realizes that YOU were in fact the psychopathic bad guy imprisoning your companions (and probably killing them).
Seeing yourself as co-victim was just another delusion.
Yeah, bummer.
*********
Okay. There. You got that?
Hit the books, folks. Surely someone else has had that dream.
If there are still Clarity of Night writing contest watchers out there, I have news! I'm going to run a summer contest!!
Although I didn't host a winter contest this year, I now have a photo in mind (to be taken yet), a name, and an idea. Might as well grab the bull by the horns and do it, no?? Despite having a new job that is 10x more work than my old one, I think I can handle it.
Unlike my last contest, this one will return to the style of posting ALL ENTRIES.
However
, in order to keep the contest to a manageable size, I'm going institute a new method to limit the number of entries to the low one-hundreds. Stay tuned on that. I think it will be fair and not slam the door in anyone's face.
In the coming weeks, I'll be sending out a preview of the contest photo. You can get an early start to compete for those cash prizes! Look for an official launch in the early part of July.
Amanda yearns for a dark presence haunting the pond behind her house (4000 words). Smashwords ebook $0.99.
Jason in Print
Check out the exciting new Halloween anthology edited by Anne Frasier. In my piece, "She Came on the October Wind," a stray black cat appears nightly at Natalie's window and brings memories of a sister who ran away years earlier. Available for pre-order. August 2011.
