{"id":1383,"date":"2008-09-18T12:14:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-18T12:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2008-09-18T12:14:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-18T12:14:00","slug":"new-poetry-by-jack-henry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/new-poetry-by-jack-henry\/","title":{"rendered":"New poetry by Jack Henry"},"content":{"rendered":"

blind w\/out seeing<\/span>


yesterday i complained about money<\/span>
about not having money<\/span>
enough money to live the life i want<\/span>
but then i don\u2019t really know what that life would be<\/span>

at 44 i am still searching and i find comfort<\/span>
in knowing i will never find what i am looking for<\/span>
but then there are moments<\/span>

moments when clouds gather and dust turns to mud<\/span>
when the orange blossoms of the coral tree fall<\/span>
at my feet and begin to rot <\/span>

when i look out across my opportunity both those<\/span>
at hand and those lost<\/span>

and it comes back to money<\/span>
about not having money<\/span>

i went for a walk in downtown los angeles<\/span>
Sunday morning, just before church but<\/span>
after the missions kicked all the night dwellers to the street<\/span>
i see their eyes but they do not see me<\/span>
i do not exist, not to them, just as they do not exist to most<\/span>
they wander off in their personal daze searching for comfort, food, shelter and it hits me<\/span>

it always hits me<\/span>
i live in a house, i eat on a regular basis<\/span>
sometimes i buy a chapbook or a six-pack of beer<\/span>
sometimes i leave change in a dirty cup of an outstretched hand<\/span>
sometimes i climb out of my own self-pity, my own self loathing, sometimes i remember that i am fine<\/span>
i have my health<\/span>
i have opportunity<\/span>
i have moments beyond the vainglorious<\/span>

it hits me that i am not a good man or noble or important or <\/span>
anything other than a line on a page or a number in a government file<\/span>

i watch these people file out of the missions on 6th street<\/span>
into the parks and alleys and wonder what i would do, if my own self-pity, became my own self-reality<\/span>

most likely i would curl  up and die<\/span>
they are the heroes, not the cops or the firemen, no real heroes are people who survive on nothing, live on nothing,<\/span>
wake up to nothing and keep moving away from nothing<\/span>

i am just a whining poet without focus or dedication<\/span>

for a couple of weeks i won\u2019t complain about anything<\/span>
but it creeps back<\/span>
and it creeps back<\/span>
and it creeps<\/span>

maybe i will remember<\/span>
most likely not<\/span>
i am trying but<\/span>
some moments i know i am blind<\/span>



* Jack Henry says: I a writer based in the rolling sage brush of the high desert in South East California. I have had a few things published here and there and if you are that curious please go to <\/span>http:\/\/deadbeatpress.blogspot.com <\/a>
<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

blind w\/out seeingyesterday i complained about moneyabout not having moneyenough money to live the life i wantbut then i don\u2019t really know what that life would beat 44 i am still searching and i find comfortin knowing i will never find what i am looking forbut then there are momentsmoments when clouds gather and dust […]<\/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-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383","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=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}