{"id":1241,"date":"2008-05-06T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-06T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1241"},"modified":"2008-05-06T08:35:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-06T08:35:00","slug":"two-pieces-of-life-by-jim-bennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/two-pieces-of-life-by-jim-bennett\/","title":{"rendered":"Two pieces of life by Jim Bennett"},"content":{"rendered":"

25<\/span>
 <\/span>
along West 23rd<\/span>
is the Hotel Chelsea<\/span>
a place people go<\/span>
to talk to ghosts<\/span>
 <\/span>
in the damp walls<\/span>
feet and carapace<\/span>
scratch<\/span>
turn crisp loose wallpaper<\/span>
into a sounding board<\/span>
the sound of beds<\/span>
thumping against<\/span>
partition walls<\/span>
moans and cries<\/span>
tears and shouting<\/span>
time hangs<\/span>
in the lamplight<\/span>
suspended in dust<\/span>
 <\/span>
at breakfast<\/span>
artists writers<\/span>
would be artists<\/span>
would be writers<\/span>
take a communion<\/span>
pancake slop syrup<\/span>
just like Hemmingway<\/span>
 <\/span>
Ok they say<\/span>
it\u2019s not like it should be<\/span>
but it sure is close<\/span>
 <\/span>
 <\/span>

26<\/span>
 <\/span>
the tarmac footpath<\/span>
serpentines alongside<\/span>
the church wall<\/span>
now in summer<\/span>
the surface bubbles<\/span>
and the edge<\/span>
like a mountain range<\/span>
full of tiny volcanoes<\/span>
of tar waits to erupt<\/span>
 <\/span>
children with magnifying glasses<\/span>
focus sun spots<\/span>
on ants<\/span>
that wither and die<\/span>
in flames and smoke<\/span>
as the deadly beam<\/span>
finds them<\/span>
 <\/span>
around the children<\/span>
crowds push close<\/span>
watch the tiny pyres<\/span>
while they wait<\/span>
one last time<\/span>
for Elvis<\/span>


\u2022 These are extracts from <\/span>56: a life in pieces<\/span> \u2013 you can read a copy of the full version of 56 for free by visiting www.poetrykit.org\/56.pdf<\/a> For more information about Jim Bennett visit – www.poetrykit.org\/jim\/index.htm<\/a> or www.myspace.com\/merseypoet<\/a><\/span>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

25 along West 23rdis the Hotel Chelseaa place people goto talk to ghosts in the damp wallsfeet and carapacescratchturn crisp loose wallpaperinto a sounding boardthe sound of bedsthumping againstpartition wallsmoans and criestears and shoutingtime hangsin the lamplightsuspended in dust at breakfastartists writerswould be artistswould be writerstake a communionpancake slop syrupjust like Hemmingway Ok they sayit\u2019s not like it should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}