{"id":162,"date":"2025-10-23T23:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T23:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/?page_id=162"},"modified":"2025-11-07T22:36:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T22:36:03","slug":"both-ways","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/poetry\/both-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"(BOTH WAYS)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rick Reut<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026which sounds and smells like looks<\/span><\/p>\n

can be deceptive to taste.<\/span><\/p>\n

They differ in different books.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many words go to waste.<\/span><\/p>\n

The present becomes the past<\/span><\/p>\n

whereas the future is clear<\/span><\/p>\n

only to GOD. Your last<\/span><\/p>\n

chance to defeat your fear<\/span><\/p>\n

may be right now. Or may-<\/span><\/p>\n

be some other time. Regret<\/span><\/p>\n

is of the past. One day<\/span><\/p>\n

you may get what they get.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pain and pleasure, of course,<\/span><\/p>\n

are of the present, like joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sorrow tries to destroy<\/span><\/p>\n

everything that is, was<\/span><\/p>\n

and will be. A night sky<\/span><\/p>\n

speaks to an empty street.<\/span><\/p>\n

Say hallo, then goodbye,<\/span><\/p>\n

hoping that you will meet<\/span><\/p>\n

again after another night.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are getting ahead<\/span><\/p>\n

of yourself. Out of sight,<\/span><\/p>\n

you live in your own head<\/span><\/p>\n

as if it was a room<\/span><\/p>\n

or an entire block<\/span><\/p>\n

of flats. Haunted by gloom,<\/span><\/p>\n

you dwell on top of a clock<\/span><\/p>\n

tower of ivory or<\/span><\/p>\n

whatever you think it is<\/span><\/p>\n

you can see in the freeze<\/span><\/p>\n

frame of your mind. A door-<\/span><\/p>\n

way leads both ways: outside<\/span><\/p>\n

and inside. There\u2019s another<\/span><\/p>\n

doorway where you can hide,<\/span><\/p>\n

getting farther and farther<\/span><\/p>\n

away. Under the bruised<\/span><\/p>\n

sky in the afterglow,<\/span><\/p>\n

a multitude of unused<\/span><\/p>\n

rain clouds crawl in slow<\/span><\/p>\n

motion to turn on the black<\/span><\/p>\n

coffee machine of the night<\/span><\/p>\n

and then maybe come back<\/span><\/p>\n

in coffee-black or milk-white,\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026which sounds and smells like looks can be deceptive to taste. They differ in different books. Many words go to waste. The present becomes the past whereas the future is clear only to GOD. Your last chance to defeat your fear may be right now. Or maybe some other time. Regret is of the past. One day you may get what they get. Pain and pleasure, of course, are of the present, like joy. Sorrow tries to destroy everything that is, was and will be. A night sky speaks to an empty street. Say hallo, then goodbye, hoping that you will meet again after another night. You are getting ahead of yourself. Out of sight, you live in your own head as if it was a room or an entire block of flats. <\/span>Haunted by gloom, you dwell on top of a clock tower of ivory or whatever you think it is you can see in the freeze frame of your mind. A doorway leads both ways: outside and inside. There\u2019s another doorway where you can hide, getting farther and farther away. Under the bruised sky in the afterglow, a multitude of unused rain clouds crawl in slow motion to turn on the black coffee machine of the night and then maybe come back in coffee-black or milk-white,\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nRick Reut \u2026which sounds and smells like looks can be deceptive to taste. They differ in different books. Many words…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “(BOTH WAYS)”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":322,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-162","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/162\/revisions\/189"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}