{"id":13452,"date":"2017-05-12T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T08:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=13452"},"modified":"2017-03-17T17:07:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-17T17:07:42","slug":"jessu-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/jessu-john\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessu John"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alles, Alles<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd something miraculous will come<\/p>\n<p>close to the darkness and ruin\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anna Akhmatova, <em>Everything<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Everything rings willow most days and wears every shade<\/p>\n<p>of jade. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eyes and trees set \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 life \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 running free;<\/p>\n<p>no shape binds this Indus. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we watch something<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>left \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or lost somewhere, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 laughter or tears held back<\/p>\n<p>but not\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 our pulse and cant \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 though the old<\/p>\n<p>returns inside us.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When you leave a country, do its rivers<\/p>\n<p>tremble on your skin long after<\/p>\n<p>from cloudbursts and shower<\/p>\n<p>clinging for breath?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I rest now \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 after escapes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the past hunts always. And what is seen<\/p>\n<p>sharp or faint makes banks we occupy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Do places ever let us go?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After journeys, here is this country, the Ganges<\/p>\n<p>and a woman found \u2013 one seed, one pulse, one spruce.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What country leaves us \u2013 ones we choose,<\/p>\n<p>ones that own us, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all hold shadows<\/p>\n<p>and these songs we must know.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Eyes are willow, ghosts or healing;<\/p>\n<p>home is warm, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or a stranger, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and all rhythm\u2019s<\/p>\n<p>a bronzed dancer with hands on hips \u2013 a whole woman.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Out of the alien country, I\u2019m dancing;<\/p>\n<p>all shadows keep singing; hand on hip, always alive within<\/p>\n<p>and dying, we shake off \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tides.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Spirit of Song, unearth us<\/p>\n<p>bold as metal through all of this.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_25020\" lang=\"EN-GB\"><span id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_25021\" style=\"font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;\"><b id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_55426\">Jessu John <\/b>is a journalist from India. She\u2019s currently working on completing her first collections of poetry and short fiction. Earlier versions of her poems have been published in US based journals Urban Confustions, Sugar Mule and The Rusty Nail.<\/span><span id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_25021\" style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\"> <\/span><span id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_25022\"><span id=\"m_-2949649365456108550yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1477378166146_25023\" style=\"font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Alles, Alles \u201cAnd something miraculous will come close to the darkness and ruin\u2026\u201d Anna Akhmatova, Everything &nbsp; &nbsp; Everything rings willow most days and wears every shade of jade. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eyes and trees set \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 life \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 running free; no shape binds this Indus. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And we watch something &nbsp; left \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or [&hellip;]<\/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-13452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452","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=13452"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13455,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13452\/revisions\/13455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}