I hope to make a separate area for these, as I know at least 50% of the people who read this are not really interested in my poetry, but for now those people will just have to click away.<\/p>\n
I wrote this poem backward, line-by-line, as a sort of experiment in creativity. End with a punch and write the story from there. It’s not terrific, but it’s one more step toward the ultimate goal of being able to sit down and write poems. I used to do that frequently.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
We all walked in to find Mel in good cheer
\nThe sure thing he had was really a fake
\nSo, we ate his chips and drank his beer
\nBut we all knew Mel made his last mistake<\/p>\n
John banged up to Mel’s house with a look that meant war
\nHis face was still wet from unloading freight
\nMel’s wife was standing in front of the door
\nShe hung on John’s clothing, like a seven-ton weight.<\/p>\n
But the decision was made, long-since, regret-free.
\nWhen he came out, his face blanched, he looked rather faint
\nHe walked out the door and looked back at me
\n“They can’t all be winners and most of them ain’t.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hope to make a separate area for these, as I know at least 50% of the people who read this are not really interested in my poetry, but for now those people will just have to click away. I wrote this poem backward, line-by-line, as a sort of experiment in creativity. End with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73iP8-aZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1949,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=1949","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":0},"title":"A Poem","date":"8\/9\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Program See every path Reaching into distant horizon To touch the sunset Each looping back recursion sends out another swirl in the Starry Night Divine cosmos Constellations acrobat patterns Washed away in sunrise Ugh. This\u00c2\u00a0is a terrible poem. Not even close to what I wanted. Not fishing.","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":679,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=679","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":1},"title":"Poem-a-day, #2","date":"11\/1\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I can not say whether these will be very good, but as this is my blog, I think I have the right to try. This is my poem-a-day blog, which will last until January. Feedback will keep me honest. And if you hate my poetry (and you well might; don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":691,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=691","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":2},"title":"Poem-a-(week)day, #11","date":"11\/14\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"An oyster knows much of patience and dignity making jewels of grit","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":690,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=690","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":3},"title":"Poem-a-(week)day, #10","date":"11\/13\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Blank stares dominate the conference room as talks start Code is forbidden","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":685,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=685","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":4},"title":"Poem-a-(week)day, #7","date":"11\/8\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been very busy, but a promise is a promise. Haiku today -- Light on my finger A spider makes webs so strong I still cannot see","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":693,"url":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/?p=693","url_meta":{"origin":681,"position":5},"title":"Poem-a-(week)day, #13","date":"11\/16\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Vast and empty as a desert my memory of her stretches itself out before me her face, blank canvas but blind emotion sculpts her silhouette","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3175,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681\/revisions\/3175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.steelbuddha.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}