{"id":25119,"date":"2024-03-07T23:23:10","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T04:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=25119"},"modified":"2024-03-10T18:17:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-10T22:17:48","slug":"not-ready-for-the-paris-review-5-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2024\/03\/not-ready-for-the-paris-review-5-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Ready for The Paris Review: 5-7"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

5. THE WALK<\/h2>\n

I don’t take you seriously
\nis what you told me
\non the mossy walkway
\noverlooking the waterfall
\nand since you didn’t look at me
\nwhen you said it
\nyou must have meant it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Come again? I said
\nbecause that is what the
\nmock-taken-aback say
\nwhen something shaming is
\nunexpectedly revealed
\nwhen what was unspoken
\nnow has words.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You only mime, you then told me
\nas your heart reported in.
\nI swear I heard its beats
\nbounce off the damp stepstones
\nand shake the rotted rails
\nthat guarded us only in mime
\nfrom the falls below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mist fell on our cheeks
\nas we descended the steps.
\nI struggled to break the disquiet
\nthat had descended on us. But
\nyour footsteps, their echoes –
\nyou had worn dressy heels!
\nimposed a silence on us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I reached for your hand –
\nit was there as always, always,
\njust as Leonard Cohen had purred.
\nWe inched our way down,
\nde-escalating without words,
\nsteeped in our own thoughts,
\nneeding to take our own time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then my left foot got wet.
\nI had stepped in a pool that
\nthe droplets of mist had formed.
\nAs the tails of your raincoat
\nflapped in the breeze, you
\nadvised me to attend to my shoe
\nwhich I was eager to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I straightened and said
\nthank you for your care and
\nthank you for being there
\nand I asked if you had a tissue.
\nTogether we wiped our cheeks.
\nThen I kissed yours, now dry,
\nand on we walked.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

6. THE PATH<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Discovery
\nLewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, December 2023<\/p>\n

\n

7. THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT<\/h2>\n

Life is too short
\nto read bad books,
\nto drink yesterday’s coffee,
\nto not chase a rainbow or two.
\nYou learn these in turn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is too short
\nto have never tried elderberries
\nwhich you must cook before eating
\nto break down their toxins,
\nlest life prove too short.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is too short
\nto lose track of a friend,
\nthen discover he died
\nthe year before he came to mind.
\nThis happens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is too short
\nto punish yourself
\nfor the mistakes of your youth
\nplus the others that followed.
\nSo claims your therapist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is too short
\nto not fight injustice!
\nBut we world-savers get old
\nand the force of our passions
\ndies when we do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is too short,
\nthought God late one night
\nas he played his favorite game.
\nSo he extended his legendary hand
\nand nudged the Lifespan control.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5. THE WALK I don’t take you seriously is what you told me on the mossy walkway overlooking the waterfall and since you didn’t look at me when you said it you must have meant it.   Come again? I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25119"}],"version-history":[{"count":349,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32589,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25119\/revisions\/32589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}