{"id":10689,"date":"2020-07-26T18:35:31","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T01:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=10689"},"modified":"2020-07-27T04:01:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T11:01:17","slug":"the-way-is-long-and-fraught-with-perils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=10689","title":{"rendered":"The Way is Long and Fraught with Perils"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/1108px-Ce\u00cc\u0081cile_Anker_1886-1024x665.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10691\"\/><figcaption>Albert Anker: Lesendes M\u00c3\u00a4dchen (C\u00c3\u00a9cile Anker) 12. September 1886<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Beth Cato<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><font face=\"Arial\">\nthe girl slips like a shadow\u00c2\u00a0\nthrough the cacophonous mob\nalong hallways where the carpet\nis worn too thin to absorb screams\n\nhurry, hurry, hurry\nshe needs to get home\nshe must find out what happens next\n\nshe flees through the gate\ntakes a shortcut across the yellowed lawn\neven as a distant teacher howls,\n\"use the sidewalk!\"\nthere is no time for sidewalks today\n\nshe dashes along the dry canal\u00c2\u00a0\nalready host to upper-grade trolls\nthat reek like the perfume gauntlet\nat the mall, only tinged\nwith cigarette smoke\n\nthey jeer the girl as they\ninhale toxic fumes and drink\ndiet cola from a shared 2-liter bottle\n\nthe sole of her right shoe flaps\nas she gallops down the dirt trail\nthrough the eucalyptus tree windbreak\nto find civilization and sidewalks again\n\nthe corner house is guarded\nby a Chihuahua possessed by Cerberus\nwho every day yaps as he charges pursuit\nwhile the old woman on the porch calls\u00c2\u00a0\n\"he don't bite!\" (he does)\n\nthe girl sprints across the apartment courtyard\nwith a hello wave to the unperturbed pigeons\u00c2\u00a0\nthat congregate at the bird bath\nfilled with beer bottles and trash\nher shoe farts with every stride\nas she bounces up the stairs\n\nshe unlocks the door\nwith ninja stealth\nmom sleeps on the couch\nphone on her chest, pills on the table\nsame as when the girl left for school\n\nin her bedroom, the girl\ngreets her stuffed animal army by name\nas she flings down her laden backpack\nwithout bothering to take off her shoes\nshe picks up the paperback that has\nleft her in dreadful suspense all day long\nwill the princess save the dragon?\nand kill that awful knight?\nhe so needs killing!\n\nmaybe just maybe\nshe can make it through the next chapter\nbefore mom bellows for supper\nin the meantime\nshe wears both a crown and a sword<\/pre><\/font>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beth Cato the girl slips like a shadow\u00c2\u00a0 through the cacophonous mob along hallways where the carpet is worn too thin to absorb screams hurry, hurry, hurry she needs to get home she must find out what happens next she flees through the gate takes a shortcut across the yellowed lawn even as a distant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10693,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689\/revisions\/10693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}