{"id":6689,"date":"2014-02-19T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6689"},"modified":"2014-02-19T16:31:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T21:31:33","slug":"tending-and-other-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/tending-and-other-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Tending and Other Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tending\"<\/a><\/p>\n

TENDING<\/b><\/p>\n

Tend the garden
\nNo need to do too much
\nIt\u2019s been planted
\nA little water
\nHere and there
\nAnd lots of light
\nWill do the trick<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been planted
\nIt\u2019ll grow
\nThat\u2019s what it does
\nNo need to do too much
\nBut tend it
\nAnd those weeds
\nNo matter what we do
\nThey rear their ugly heads
\nA little each day
\nGet down and pull<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been planted well<\/p>\n

Now just tend
\nMaybe free up the soil
\nLet the roots get some air
\nOr move something
\nSomewhere brand new<\/p>\n

A change of locale<\/p>\n

Where things are sunnier
\nThat often works
\nI know I\u2019ve moved around lots
\nAfter planting<\/p>\n

During tending
\nAnd not anything more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WHO\u2019S TO SAY<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

woke up today
\nthe world i see
\nsome sun not gray
\na pretty day
\ni could be wrong
\nwho really cares?
\nbut could be right
\nwell who\u2019s to say?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

slept great last night
\nhad vivid dreams
\nwalked through my past
\nit didn\u2019t last
\nwoke up and pondered
\nwhere i wandered
\nain\u2019t life grand?
\nwell who\u2019s to say?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

who\u2019s to say?
\ncertainly not me
\nhey who\u2019s to say?
\nthem her or he
\nwell who\u2019s to say?
\nwe sit in wonder
\nat this blunder
\nwho\u2019s to say?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

wow you and me
\nwe are so free
\nwe live we laugh
\nwe love we shove
\nwe do the best we can right now
\nwell who\u2019s to say
\nit\u2019s wrong somehow?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GRASP<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

i need more time
\nmore time to reconcile my life
\ndo all the things i want to do
\nall the things i said i would
\nall the things i should<\/p>\n

i need more space
\nmore space to be as big as i feel
\nto grow into what i see myself as
\nto stretch as far as i possibly can
\nto reach while i\u2019m still able<\/p>\n

grasping and pining
\ntrying and more
\nsun up then down
\ngo to bed out the door
\nmore often than likely
\nthe end is the case
\nto run out of time
\neven worse out of space.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OFF OF MY MIND<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

hey there
\ntell me you love me
\nyou can\u2019t live without me
\nyou know that you want to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

hey there
\ntell me you\u2019re crazy
\nyou\u2019re thinkin about me
\nand never would doubt me
\nyou know that you have to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a long strange road
\nthis me knowing you
\nyou can\u2019t tell me not
\nyou know you don\u2019t need to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

we\u2019ve come this far
\nthis me and this you
\nmuch too long a distance
\nso just tell me now<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yes hey there
\nyou hear how i\u2019m feelin
\ni can\u2019t live without you
\nwho says that i have to?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

hey there
\nyou know that i\u2019m crazy
\ni can\u2019t get you off of my mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NEXT TO GOD<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

what would jesus do?
\nlove thy neighbor as thyself
\nthen be crucified<\/p>\n

cause today the world
\nis filled with hate and violence
\nwhen jesus preached just love<\/p>\n

not intolerance
\nnot many have the patience
\nfor what jesus said<\/p>\n

about the meek and
\npure inheriting the earth
\nand the peacemakers<\/p>\n

and the merciful
\nand the poor in spirit too
\njesus mentioned them<\/p>\n

and he also said
\nthose who are persecuted
\nfor righteousness sake<\/p>\n

will find a place in
\nthe kingdom of heaven and
\nsit right next to god.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Pete Armetta is a new writer of Flash Fiction, Poetry, Short Stories and Essays. With a style that\u2019s accessible and broad, his poetry and stories fend off conventionality.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s impossible to pigeonhole.<\/p>\n

Pete\u2019s a native New Yorker living in Charlottesville, VA, via too many other places to count. It\u2019s a life of big sky and mountains and dogwoods and hawks. Of back roads and wood-burning stoves. It\u2019s bourbon and mint from the garden in spring and swimming in the river in summer. Currently pursuing writing fellowships and residencies, Pete writes full-time, shedding that former button-down existence to fully embrace his craft.<\/p>\n

You only live once right?<\/p>\n

Pete\u2019s work has been published or is upcoming in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Inclement Magazine, Zest Literary Journal, Gadfly Magazine, The River Journal, Marco Polo Arts Mag, Expats Poetry, Subtle Fiction, Take It To The Street Poetry, Best New Poems, Cynic Magazine, Blue Lake Review, the Stone Path Review and numerous anthologies. His short stories have been regularly featured in The Piker Press. Pete\u2019s first poetry chapbook, New Future was published by Lost & Found Press in 2012 and is free for the taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tend the garden<\/p>\n

No need to do too much<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been planted<\/p>\n

A little water<\/p>\n

Here and there<\/p>\n

And lots of light<\/p>\n

Will do the trick<\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":6799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,219,199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6689"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6804,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6689\/revisions\/6804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}