{"id":475,"date":"2023-04-25T21:41:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/18-2\/?page_id=475"},"modified":"2023-04-25T21:50:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:50:40","slug":"how-to-bear-the-unbearable-weight-of-our-times","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/poetry\/how-to-bear-the-unbearable-weight-of-our-times\/","title":{"rendered":"How to bear the unbearable weight of our times"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kitty Josp\u00e9<\/span><\/h5>\n

— to Dana Levin<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Go where you can see the rocks<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

kissing,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

where an enormous boulder<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(its granite\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

worn down<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

by the sea)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0nestles on top of <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

another enormous boulder<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and over there, this 12-foot rock face<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0widens into an enormous laugh!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Imagine one rock singing a lullaby,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

that croons and soothes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

with an age-old tune<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I too, have felt the sea<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

smoothing my edges<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Go now, imagine<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you have just opened<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

your arms<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

so wide, so high<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i> to show<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

how<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

it feels when<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

the bigness<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

is so overpowering<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

you need a rock to remind you,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

shattering is also part<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of being rock.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

II<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is dawn\u2014<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and the wind is whispering<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

as if wearing slippers as it walks in the waves.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Make time to imagine\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a crimson line preparing<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

arrival<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 of the sun\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

how the light paints the sky<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

into stained-glass windows<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

shines the wet sand,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

in a shimmer of gold\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>and you?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0You hold winged weight<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

in the offering cup of your palms,\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 now lifting.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

Kitty Josp\u00e9 — to Dana Levin\u00a0 \u00a0Go where you can see the rocks\u00a0 kissing,\u00a0 where an enormous boulder\u00a0 (its granite\u00a0\u00a0 worn down\u00a0 by the sea)\u00a0 \u00a0nestles on top of \u00a0 another enormous boulder\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"parent":27,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-475","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/475\/revisions\/502"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}