5.19.2008

Ribs on the Run

by Kris Saknussemm
100 words


Slaughter-time at the bacon factory. Never forget the sounds.


I'm filling up at the truckstop when I hear those same desperate squeals again. A twin trailer loaded with hogs. Suddenly slats smash—one breaks loose. Crazed pig between the pumps—high octane panic—market-bound meat charging across the freeway. God, I'm thinking smoked ham and a five car crack-up but the creature actually makes it, disappearing in the derelict speedway where Guns N' Roses once played—pounding over the peeling asphalt toward a suburb where Blockbuster kids graffiti the display houses…as if it knew its way. All the way home.





KRIS SAKNUSSEMM is the Random House author of Zanesville published in 2005 and named by The Austin Chronicle as "the most original novel of the year."

His stories and poems have appeared in such places as Chelsea, Thieves Jargon, The Boston Review, The Hudson Review, New Letters, ZYZZYVA and The Antioch Review. His next novel is due out in 2008.

For more information:

www.saknussemm.com

www.zanesvillethenovel.com

www.myspace.com/saknussemm




Copyright © 2007 Kris Saknussemm

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