{"id":7954,"date":"2014-12-12T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=7954"},"modified":"2014-12-16T13:23:52","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T18:23:52","slug":"civilized-world-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/civilized-world-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Civilized World & Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Civilized_585x585\"<\/a><\/h3>\n

Civilized World<\/h3>\n

There are no executions in the square.
\nJust look at this town center.
\nNot a gibbet in sight.
\nNo bodies pierced by poles
\nlike in the days of Vlad the Impaler.
\nThere\u2019s even public toilets.
\nTake that crucifixions.
\nAnd the businessman
\nin double-breasted suit
\neats his lunch on the park bench
\nwithout fear of soldiers interrupting,
\nor priests, or lawyers,
\nor the Grand Inquisitor.
\nHe even feeds crumbs to the pigeons.
\nAnd out of the goodness of his heart.
\nNot so he can draw them near
\nthen club them.
\nNot that everybody\u2019s happy
\nbut those grimaces aren\u2019t the nasty work
\nof rat-borne plague
\nor suspecting their neighbor is a witch,
\nMostly upset stomachs
\nbut what\u2019s to be upset about.
\nThere\u2019s even an orator on his soap-box
\nthreatening the unbelievers with hell and damnation.
\nAnd what\u2019s \u201cHell and Damnation\u201d
\nbut the name of the latest trendy disco.
\nHard to believe the country is at war.
\nWhere are the war-like faces?
\nThere\u2019s just an old soldier
\nburrowed in a tenement stoop
\nwith his gin bottle.
\nHe\u2019d be homeless
\nif America weren\u2019t his home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Failure<\/h3>\n

She failed the exam.
\nConsidering how smart she is,
\nthat\u2019s a failure within a failure.
\nAnd she\u2019s depressed.
\nEven her new shoes can\u2019t cheer her
\nnor the stereo.
\nHer favorite songs
\nare her depression\u2019s favorite songs now.<\/p>\n

She considers her choices.
\nDrink. Smoke. Commit suicide.
\nHave sex with the first guy who asks.
\nOr study harder.
\nSit for the damn exam again in six months\u2019 time.
\nShe watches television.
\nOprah. A woman who has it worse than she does
\nand with a double chin as well.
\nAnd yet that woman didn\u2019t sit for the exam
\nso the comparison doesn\u2019t count.<\/p>\n

She goes for walk,
\npasses out of her neighborhood
\nand into the woods.
\nShe can\u2019t put a name to the bird-songs.
\nAnother examination. Another failure.
\nAnd she knows the maples
\nby the shape of the leaves
\nbut what\u2019s an elm, what\u2019s an oak.
\nThis is useless, she decides.<\/p>\n

So she sleeps on the couch. She dreams.
\nAnother exam and, this time,
\nshe\u2019s dressed in nothing but her underwear.
\nNo wonder I didn\u2019t pass, she says.
\nI was almost naked.
\nI was cold. Shivering. All eyes were upon me.
\nSome laughed. Some snickered.
\nMaybe even some guy even said to himself,
\n\u201cNot bad.\u201d
\nBut \u201cnot bad\u201d is a passing remark
\nnot a passing mark.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

John Grey is an Australian born poet. Recently published in Paterson Literary Review, Southern California Review and Natural Bridge with work upcoming in the Kerf, Leading Edge and Louisiana Literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are no executions in the square.
\nJust look at this town center.
\nNot a gibbet in sight.
\nNo bodies pierced by poles
\nlike in the days of Vlad the Impaler.
\nThere\u2019s even public toilets.
\nTake that crucifixions.
\nAnd the businessman
\nin double-breasted suit
\neats his lunch on the park bench<\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":8643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,219,199,217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954"}],"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\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7954"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8645,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7954\/revisions\/8645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}