{"id":3494,"date":"2024-04-24T12:11:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/?p=3494"},"modified":"2024-04-24T12:11:37","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T16:11:37","slug":"back-to-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/back-to-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
“Back to the Fire”, Kathleen Hudspeth, 2023. Oil and graphite on paper, 16″ x 12″ [“Back to the Fire” poem 2024]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was ample beer and a guitar or two
        weed and 60s folksongs
There was the blazing fire at your back
        and the tents around it
You faced away from the overwhelming heat
        from the blinding heat
It was awful so you finally stood up
        and then you walked into the woods <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without light you fled the sounds of camaraderie behind you
Alone close in among the trees you escaped
Relief found in the quiet and cool blanketed by nightsounds <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stayed there
        a creature in the woods<\/em>
You stayed there
        why don\u2019t you belong<\/em>
You stayed there
        do you ever belong<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stay there
        but you will return eventually
        always return and try to fit
        a can of undrunk sour beer in your hand
        weed that you wave away
        right on yeah man manic laughter
        silent you finally pulling out a book
        or your journal <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the trees you look towards the campfire
A beacon of flame marking time lost in a role
        accommodating others
        trying not to be egregiously weird <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if there was anything truly weird about not liking folksong or weed or beer
        or campfires <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shift your weight
        a twig snaps
Your hand clutches over tree bark
        grit rolls under your fingers
You inhale shallowly
        your heart shudders
You attempt a step
        fallen leaves rustle <\/p>\n\n\n\n

you creature of the woods <\/em>
why don\u2019t you belong <\/em>
do you ever belong<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stay there just a little longer
        with your back to the fire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was ample beer and a guitar or two         weed and 60s folksongs There was the blazing fire at your back         and the tents around it You faced away from the overwhelming heat         from the blinding heat It was awful so you finally stood up         and then you walked into the woods Without light you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3503,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[244,226,245],"tags":[162,17,19],"class_list":["post-3494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-painting","category-poetry","tag-landscape","tag-painting","tag-works-on-paper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Back-to-the-Fire-detail.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gX8t-Um","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3494"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3502,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494\/revisions\/3502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenextfewhours.com\/KH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}