{"id":2624,"date":"2019-02-12T20:44:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T20:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/?page_id=2624"},"modified":"2019-02-18T00:24:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T00:24:05","slug":"schwank","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/schwank\/","title":{"rendered":"Schwank"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t4X2\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tan online poetry journal\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto by Melissa Hotchkiss\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/span>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Tattooist\t\t\t\t\t<\/h5>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

by Thomas Schwank<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw him in time
\nquivering
\none unbroken leg middle of the street
\nblack yellow eye stoning me
\nlike a child\u2019s telescope
\nfixed to one spot waiting for a soul to show up
\nI thought about how I was
\ngonna be late for work
\nand drove around the bird
\nThen I quickly made the block to move it out the street
\nIt had just gotten smashed
\nonly once
\nits feathers still soft and airy
\nbody not that flat
\nhalf a wing untouched
\nthe fingers brilliant
\nplumed in the greys of dignity
\nshifting and peeling in the breeze of traffic
\nThe face was the same except the hair
\nnow sticking up like a baby\u2019s
\nthe head rocking slightly
\nlike a broken toy<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Every year when the night herons reproduce
\nin the branches over this busy street
\nbabies maturing for months into juveniles
\nlaughing like a tree coming down
\nsome fall into the street
\nand get run over hundreds and hundreds of times
\nlooking like a mixed media piece
\nsplatter of dark paint
\nfeathers made tar
\nsoundtrack of tires
\nexhaust smell
\nthe beak and claws and bones
\nvisible only as lines
\na fossil made in an afternoon<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The tattooist I was telling this story to
\nrealized it was finally over and after a pause asked
\nDid you get to work on time?
\nNo I said
\nHe nodded
\nHe said
\nI think I understand how you\u2019d like me to do it<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n
\n\t

Poet's Statement: I wrote this poem thinking about getting a tattoo. I don\u2019t have any tattoos.
\n<\/span>
\nBio:\u00a0Thomas works as a waiter in New Orleans.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4X2 an online poetry journal Photo by Melissa Hotchkiss The Tattooist by Thomas Schwank I saw him in time quivering one unbroken leg middle of the street black yellow eye stoning me like a child\u2019s telescope fixed to one spot waiting for a soul to show up I thought about how I was gonna be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2624","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2675,"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2624\/revisions\/2675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barrowstreet.org\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}