{"id":630,"date":"2010-04-12T18:38:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-12T18:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=630"},"modified":"2010-04-12T18:38:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-12T18:38:00","slug":"richard-osgood-says-please-dont-walk-on-the-wet-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/richard-osgood-says-please-dont-walk-on-the-wet-floor\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Osgood says please don't walk on the wet floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Please) Don\u2019t Walk On The Wet Floor, Edgar<\/span>


Flat back, eyes up \u2014<\/span> then I shall cross the ceiling<\/span> \u2014 you must watch it dry first \u2014<\/span> then you mustn't first wash it<\/span> \u2014 sit up and listen, Edgar \u2014<\/span> take my pulse, if you wish <\/span>\u2014 you are a household name.<\/span>

Chairs move close, eyes front, strings broken \u2014<\/span> the music can't be heard if all are dancing<\/span>\u2014overdrive, Edgar \u2014<\/span> and be damned <\/span>\u2014 ride a steel breeze, winner and loser \u2014<\/span> where leaves swallow the queen <\/span>\u2014 pile on the layers, feathery tongue, from this side of the room the sea isn't green.<\/span>

But the snow is deep and my feet are cold<\/span> \u2014 yellow will be there when all stop looking and words are swallowed \u2014<\/span> I seek the warmth of paper hats and steel wire<\/span> \u2014 catch the river, Edgar \u2014<\/span> I must do it alone <\/span>\u2014 no, do it with us, for us, all of us.<\/span>

Then leave me, old shoes and nervous fits<\/span> \u2014 don't wait for the barley to grow, Edgar \u2014<\/span> what exactly is the joke?<\/span> \u2014 'tis a strange hobby, banging doors, finding places to go \u2014<\/span> I fight the blue I once knew, by your side, Lucifer sea<\/span> \u2014 stages, six, without error, bring good fortune.<\/span>

Why must you wash the floor when I need first to reach the other side? <\/span>\u2014 a return to Baton Rouge \u2014<\/span> brilliant red emissions return winter solstice<\/span> \u2014 they will spear you \u2014<\/span> take my temperature, if you wish<\/span> \u2014 take darkness, increase it by one, and things are destroyed, all at once, and for all.<\/span>

Tragedy is never shared between lovers \u2014<\/span> reflections fade to black<\/span> \u2014 considerate of you to say you are not here \u2014 <\/span>on a buttercup, where love blooms, the prowling sands of icy waters <\/span>\u2014 shine on \u2014<\/span> kiss the ground<\/span>\u2014please don't walk on the wet floor, Edgar \u2014<\/span> fold a newspaper under arm until death <\/span>\u2014 else you slip and fall.<\/span>



* Richard Osgood <\/span>lives on a river where the north meets the south.  Publication credits include, <\/span>Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Hobart, Dogzplot, LitChaos, The First Line, Mudluscious<\/span>, and <\/span>Writer's Bloc<\/span>, among others.  He continues to mourn the deaths of Steve Marriott and Syd Barrett.<\/span>

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Please) Don\u2019t Walk On The Wet Floor, EdgarFlat back, eyes up \u2014 then I shall cross the ceiling \u2014 you must watch it dry first \u2014 then you mustn't first wash it \u2014 sit up and listen, Edgar \u2014 take my pulse, if you wish \u2014 you are a household name.Chairs move close, eyes front, […]<\/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-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","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=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}