{"id":5155,"date":"2019-06-12T05:24:28","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T12:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/?p=5155"},"modified":"2019-06-12T05:24:31","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T12:24:31","slug":"the-bonnie-and-clyde-files-another-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/meditations\/the-bonnie-and-clyde-files-another-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bonnie and Clyde Files…another excerpt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

My\nlatest book, The Bonnie and Clyde Files: How Two Senior Dogs Saved\na Middle Aged Man <\/em>is out and I\nhave a few copies left of this limited edition (300) run. I invite\nyou to support me and an independent Oregon publisher by purchasing\ndirect from my web site, nestuccaspitpress.com \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nbook features 10 poetic interludes, where I channel Walt Whitman to\nmake sense of the madness and inhumanity I witnessed, scenes I will\nnever forget:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below\nis an excerpt:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lean against the wall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

inside the probation office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joint is packed. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reprobates are jacked. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read Walt Whitman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at random<\/p>\n\n\n\n

waiting for a form<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to set me free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s come to that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a form for freedom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in a democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you believe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they want it in longhand? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To my right<\/p>\n\n\n\n

two couples<\/p>\n\n\n\n

make out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before their<\/p>\n\n\n\n

meetings and drug tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing surprises in here<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not the sparkled jeans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nor the man reading Macbeth<\/em>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not the dog food coupons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to feed human beings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nor the reek of fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, this making out does<\/p>\n\n\n\n

these two<\/em> couples!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like that poem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKissing\u201d by Dorianne Laux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stanza reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are kissing
to begin the\nworld again. Nothing
can stop them…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

they are doing what they have to\ndo
to survive the worst<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the one human act \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the State can\u2019t take from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fluorescent lights \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

plastic chairs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gray carpet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an act of secret rebellion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

smack dab in the open<\/p>\n\n\n\n

face to face<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in our faceless times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

not a reckoning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but a puckering. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I read another line from Walt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He writes a lot about kissing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but never uses the word. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watch the couples,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the two women<\/p>\n\n\n\n

angled toward me,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their eyes closed. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One has slipped her feet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

out of flip flops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is barefoot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and kissing \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the probation office.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My latest book, The Bonnie and Clyde Files: How Two Senior Dogs Saved a Middle Aged Man is out and I have a few copies left of this limited edition (300) run. I invite you to support me and an independent Oregon publisher by purchasing direct from my web site, nestuccaspitpress.com The book features 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203,5],"tags":[1032,534,1031,1033,6,932,694,1034],"class_list":["post-5155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bonnie-and-clyde-files","category-meditations","tag-books-about-criminal-justice-system","tag-dog-books","tag-dog-books-probation-poems","tag-justice-reform","tag-matt-love","tag-matt-love-books","tag-oregon-books","tag-oregon-probation","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5158,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5155\/revisions\/5158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}