{"id":9727,"date":"2015-12-12T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-12-12T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=9727"},"modified":"2015-11-26T15:56:56","modified_gmt":"2015-11-26T15:56:56","slug":"simon-middleton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/simon-middleton\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Middleton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dead Lilies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vase is full<br \/>\nof clean shapes,<\/p>\n<p>browning like banana skins,<br \/>\nliver-spotted in the heat of the day.<\/p>\n<p>Petals, thin as bible paper,<br \/>\ncurl to parched and dog-eared flutes;<\/p>\n<p>the dry corpse of a baked starfish<br \/>\nskirted with a scallop-edge.<\/p>\n<p>She takes each in turn, \u2013<br \/>\ncrisp and furrowed with lifelessness \u2013<\/p>\n<p>severs the dead-heads from withered stems<br \/>\nto place in a square of old material.<\/p>\n<p>As they rest, I wonder<br \/>\nhow their waning went unnoticed;<\/p>\n<p>their decline unseen;<br \/>\nwhether dying can be preserved<br \/>\nlike a pressed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ordergenericpropeciaonline.com\">order propecia us<\/a> flower in a creased fold.<\/p>\n<p>But only pollen stains the cloth,<br \/>\nall of last autumn\u2019s shades.<\/p>\n<p>And stains her hands the same pale hue,<br \/>\nwhich, like time, will wash away.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Simon Middleton<\/strong> was a runner-up in the 2007 Bridport Junior Prize and his work has previously featured in the <em>Cadaverine Magazine<\/em>. Presently, he works as a teacher of English in Dorset, where he lives with his partner and son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dead Lilies The vase is full of clean shapes, browning like banana skins, liver-spotted in the heat of the day. Petals, thin as bible paper, curl to parched and dog-eared flutes; the dry corpse of a baked starfish skirted with a scallop-edge. She takes each in turn, \u2013 crisp and furrowed [&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-9727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prose-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9727","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=9727"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9729,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9727\/revisions\/9729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}