<\/p>\n
When The Trouble Comes<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n it comes illiterate<\/p>\n reading<\/p>\n Soldier of Fortune magazine,<\/p>\n but always to church on time,<\/p>\n in its Sunday best,<\/p>\n praying for world peace,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n it comes bearing gifts<\/p>\n from the dollar store,<\/p>\n shit you never wanted,<\/p>\n like a severed head<\/p>\n on a Styrofoam plate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the trouble comes<\/p>\n it\u2019s got the smile of a shark,<\/p>\n asking you to sign<\/p>\n on the dotted line,<\/p>\n a muse amused<\/p>\n in its well-heeled shoes,<\/p>\n one hand down your pants<\/p>\n as it slips the rope around your neck.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It comes on cat paws<\/p>\n or in stampedes,<\/p>\n like a rat running through a maze<\/p>\n for a piece of cheese,<\/p>\n it\u2019s the bull on the roof,<\/p>\n wolf at the door,<\/p>\n monkey on your back,<\/p>\n white elephant in your chicken shack,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n it comes<\/p>\n in polluted waves,<\/p>\n bombs falling,<\/p>\n catching you in its crosshairs<\/p>\n unaware,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n or in great slaughterhouses built<\/p>\n especially for the disposal<\/p>\n of people just like<\/p>\n you\u2014<\/p>\n <\/p>\n when the trouble comes<\/p>\n it gets rid of the wrong ones<\/p>\n and leaves the righteous<\/p>\n to tell the tale.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It comes head on,<\/p>\n in full frontal nudity,<\/p>\n always dressed for success,<\/p>\n cutting a rug in its<\/p>\n Saturday night tristesse,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n guaranteeing your right to life,<\/p>\n liberty,<\/p>\n the pursuit of misery,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n it\u2019s got your back<\/p>\n with a knife.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scott Blackwell<\/strong> is a former resident of San Francisco and an MFA graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee and has most recently had poetry published in Iconoclast, Barbaric Yawp, The Interpreter\u2019s House, Floyd County Moonshine, Nerve Cowboy, Tribeca Poetry Review,<\/em> and others. He currently resides in Champaign, Illinois.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When The Trouble Comes it comes illiterate reading Soldier of Fortune magazine, but always to church on time, in its Sunday best, praying for world peace, it comes bearing gifts from the dollar store, shit you never wanted, like a severed head on a Styrofoam plate. When the trouble comes it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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-12506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13315,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12506\/revisions\/13315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}