<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How Not to Start the Day<\/strong><\/p>\n One should avoid at all costs [awaiting completion \u2013 one needs to be more than wide awake to write this stuff]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Martin Stannard<\/strong>‘s\u00a0most recent full-length collection is Poems for the Young at Heart<\/em> (Leafe Press, 2016) and a chapbook, Items<\/em>, was published by Red Ceilings in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How Not to Start the Day One should avoid at all costs Ungodly hours such as 3.15 or 4.22 \u2013 You are not a night-watchman Unless of course you are a night-watchman In which case you should read these instructions During the night and not during the day And do not start the […]<\/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-17635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17635","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=17635"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17717,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17635\/revisions\/17717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUngodly hours such as 3.15 or 4.22 \u2013
\nYou are not a night-watchman
\nUnless of course you are a night-watchman
\nIn which case you should read these instructions
\nDuring the night and not during the day
\nAnd do not start the day by watching a YouTube video
\nFeaturing people who (apparently) do the same job as you
\nBut are much more successful and have become household names
\nThe day will seem to be a complete and utter waste of time
\nIf you start it in this way
\nDo not start the day engaging in coitus
\nWith your spouse, girl- or boyfriend, imaginary partner, or yourself
\nSexual intercourse may seem like a good way to start a day
\nAnd until a certain age it is, but your author is old
\nSo everything he says is coloured by too much painful experience
\nAnd when you are old sexual anything will leave you drained of energy
\nAnd somewhat unfit to face the rigours of the day fully-charged
\nSo sexual kerfuffle is best left until last thing at night
\nOr by-passed altogether
\n(This matter will be dealt with more fully in
\n\u201cHow To End The Day\u201d, a poem that may exist in the future)
\nAnd do not start the day in pseudo-epic-Homeric style
\nThrowing thy robe about thy gracious body
\nAnd thy cloak athwart thy ample shoulders
\nJust put on your dressing gown like an ordinary Joe
\nThis is not ancient Greece and you are not epic
\nAlthough your worries and woes may feel that way
\nWhen you start the day
\nAnd if you start the day in the wrong way
\nYou have only yourself to blame take my advice
\nTake my advice
\nDo not start the day in thrall to anyone
\nYou may go to sleep like that
\n(Although it\u2019s not recommended) but do not continue
\nIn the morning where you left off last night
\nThe day is new so be new too
\nOr at least be the best version of yourself you can be
\nDo not\u00a0 start the day worrying about the weather
\nOr whether or not people like you of course
\nPeople like you and don\u2019t like you in various degrees
\nRanging from love and admiration to pure loathing
\nDo not start the day worrying about things
\nThat don\u2019t matter
\nThe air is full of what might happen
\nBut it\u2019s rarely worth thinking about and if you do think about it
\nKeep it short there\u2019s an entire day ahead of you
\nAnd if by accidental chance you start the day
\nWith a rottweiler dragging you to the floor with glee
\nOr God in Old Testament vengeance mode growls Good Morning
\nVoiceless but you hear him anyway
\nYou don\u2019t need me to tell you this is not a good way to start the day \u2013
\nThe best way to start the day is to<\/p>\n