{"id":1913,"date":"2019-02-25T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=1913"},"modified":"2019-02-23T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T20:53:09","slug":"the-chasm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=1913","title":{"rendered":"The Chasm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Slave Ship by JMW Turner, 1840<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

W.C. Roberts<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
his chin thrust out like a ledge over the chasm\u00c2\u00a0
between them, their child\u00c2\u00a0
a tiny figure cut out of stone and blackened in a fire
that burned their house boat
to the water line\u00c2\u00a0
he glares at her, eyes like flint and steel\u00c2\u00a0
but the sparks do not so much and singe her hair\u00c2\u00a0
the woman takes up their child\u00c2\u00a0
and cradles him in arms\u00c2\u00a0
not yet turned to stone, but thunder in a confining space
shakes the soot from his brow\u00c2\u00a0
-- the child stirs

there was a time when the men on the banks of the river
would have died for them, and their stories told\u00c2\u00a0
to frighten children who hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the good sense to turn to stone\u00c2\u00a0
when the fire comes and their thatched huts burn down
to the ground

from these ashes we are enjoined, and one of the ravens
he watches over us\u00c2\u00a0
and we, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d live for ages, and cannot live under the water
that comes to bury us alive
we, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d live for ages, and cannot live\u00c2\u00a0
in the crook of his elbow like a firearm
we look away, and he looks for us, as the storm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fury\u00c2\u00a0
shards of a white porcelain heaven breaking\u00c2\u00a0
and they come down on the water, without hardly a splash\u00c2\u00a0
knowing the bottom well, and the chasm between them
who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d take a drink from this well? and know

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left of the sky

father, father, says the child, in the child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lisping way \u00c2\u00a0
why have they turned against us? are we not good\u00c2\u00a0
for them?



he swallows, as if thinking of his answer;
he steps into the chasm
and is gone<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
W.C. Roberts his chin thrust out like a ledge over the chasm\u00c2\u00a0between them, their child\u00c2\u00a0a tiny figure cut out of stone and blackened in a firethat burned their house boatto the water line\u00c2\u00a0he glares at her, eyes like flint and steel\u00c2\u00a0but the sparks do not so much and singe her hair\u00c2\u00a0the woman takes up their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913","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=1913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1915,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1913\/revisions\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}