{"id":376,"date":"2025-11-13T23:34:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T23:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/?page_id=376"},"modified":"2025-11-15T16:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T16:03:17","slug":"a-fickle-little-thing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/poetry\/a-fickle-little-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fickle Little Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bradlee Thomas<\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder<\/span><\/p>\n

which means I wait.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I find space between the couch cushions<\/span><\/p>\n

so I can feel as small as a coin<\/span><\/p>\n

and sit among the discarded.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be thankful<\/span><\/p>\n

that we have one thing in common.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Someone rips apart the couch<\/span><\/p>\n

looking for a lost magnetic phone wallet<\/span><\/p>\n

but picks me up instead<\/span><\/p>\n

and puts me in their pocket after deliberation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My denim bed, the wallet person, and I,<\/span><\/p>\n

together we walk through routes<\/span><\/p>\n

my feet remember with no gps<\/span><\/p>\n

and I wonder<\/span><\/p>\n

which means I wait.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am wondering about the people on the streets<\/span><\/p>\n

which means that I am waiting<\/span><\/p>\n

for one more person to notice me<\/span><\/p>\n

which means I need to fall out of this pocket<\/span><\/p>\n

which means that one is never enough<\/span><\/p>\n

just like how I\u2019m worth<\/span><\/p>\n

1\/3000th of a pack of gum or a pop<\/span><\/p>\n

and the government is going to phase me out<\/span><\/p>\n

by the end of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope one day I\u2019ll end up in a money box<\/span><\/p>\n

so that I can be put in a bag<\/span><\/p>\n

with bills that are worth<\/span><\/p>\n

more than me and 100,000 of us combined<\/span><\/p>\n

all while the man who knows none of us<\/span><\/p>\n

makes about $68,493 per hour<\/span><\/p>\n

all while knowing we\u2019ll never be registered.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe we\u2019ll get a memorial penny.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wonder about what my engraving will be<\/span><\/p>\n

and hope that it\u2019s a porcelain doll<\/span><\/p>\n

which means I\u2019m waiting.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But waiting and wondering<\/span><\/p>\n

is better than blindly accepting our fate.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nBradlee Thomas I wonder which means I wait.   I find space between the couch cushions so I can feel…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “A Fickle Little Thing”<\/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-376","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376","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=376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/376\/revisions\/379"}],"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=376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}