{"id":447,"date":"2023-12-09T00:14:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T00:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/19-1\/?page_id=447"},"modified":"2023-12-09T00:14:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T00:14:04","slug":"when-im-walking","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/poetry\/when-im-walking\/","title":{"rendered":"When I\u2019m Walking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\n
Garrett Roth<\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I\u2019m afraid that when I\u2019m walking<\/p>\n

underneath the low-hanging branches<\/p>\n

Because whoever lives at the corner of<\/p>\n

[redacted] and [redacted]<\/p>\n

doesn\u2019t trim their shrubbery<\/p>\n

That when I\u2019m whistling & open my mouth to<\/p>\n

take a breath<\/p>\n

That I\u2019ll walk straight into a spiderweb<\/p>\n

suspended there in the untrimmed shrubbery<\/p>\n

with a perfectly grotesque arachnid<\/p>\n

more than likely a wolf spider if I had to<\/p>\n

guess<\/p>\n

right there in the middle of the web<\/p>\n

and that I\u2019ll inhale it right in and<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have a spider in my mouth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(I\u2019m afraid of losing arguments about sports with my uncle and of getting lost driving to Nashville even though I have directions)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid that when I\u2019m walking<\/p>\n

someone will be following me<\/p>\n

A character of<\/p>\n

dubious intentions, at best<\/p>\n

I wore my running shoes instead of my Reeboks<\/p>\n

just in case something like this happened<\/p>\n

A quick closing of distance<\/p>\n

My collar is grabbed & I feel a sharpness at my back<\/p>\n

I counter with a swift pivot and a two-fisted hammer punch<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, my assailant<\/p>\n

pulls out a gun, but<\/p>\n

to be outdone even less than he I<\/p>\n

pull out my far larger & therefore superior gun<\/p>\n

It is marked \u201cACME Disintegrating Pistol\u201d<\/p>\n

I pull the trigger & it disintegrates<\/p>\n

in my grasp<\/p>\n

My foe obliterates me.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(I\u2019m afraid of my cat getting out because he doesn\u2019t know how to get back home and of forgetting people\u2019s names who know mine)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid that when I\u2019m walking<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll look the wrong person in the eye<\/p>\n

and they\u2019ll think I\u2019m being aggressive<\/p>\n

instead of doing what my father taught me<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about respect, not your comfort\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I\u2019ll stammer out some apology<\/p>\n

Something fake about \u201cYou looked familiar\u201d<\/p>\n

or<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you had a spider in your mouth<\/p>\n

and wondered if I could put it back<\/p>\n

in the shrubs, where it belongs\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll part ways and I\u2019ll still look strangers in<\/p>\n

the eye<\/p>\n

but now I\u2019ve practiced so I\u2019ll know what to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(I\u2019m afraid of what happens when my grandparents can\u2019t take care of themselves anymore and of what would happen to my dad if we lost my mom)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid that when I\u2019m walking<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll get home to find everything exactly how I left it<\/p>\n

but the backdoor is unlocked<\/p>\n

and I thought it was locked when I left<\/p>\n

Hmmmmmmmmm<\/p>\n

That looks to be a size 14 dirty footprint<\/p>\n

I am a mere 10.5<\/p>\n

Oh well<\/p>\n

Time to sleep<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that giggling sound coming from the closet?<\/p>\n

Oh I must have left the TV on<\/p>\n

The closet is opening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garrett Roth I\u2019m afraid that when I\u2019m walking underneath the low-hanging branches Because whoever lives at the corner of [redacted] and [redacted] doesn\u2019t trim their shrubbery That when I\u2019m whistling & open my mouth to take a breath That I\u2019ll walk straight into a spiderweb suspended there in the untrimmed shrubbery with a perfectly grotesque … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “When I\u2019m Walking”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-447","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/447\/revisions\/463"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/19-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}