{"id":2103,"date":"2023-10-27T16:39:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T21:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/?p=2103"},"modified":"2023-11-20T20:12:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-21T02:12:25","slug":"poetry-by-rivka-clifton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/?p=2103","title":{"rendered":"Poetry by Rivka Clifton"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

When Rush Hour Begins<\/h4>\n

\n<\/p>

it\u2019s best to drink               Topo Chico from a glass<\/p>\n

bottle    like a predator   alone    in my car
\nI know              where       everyone\u2019s eyes are<\/p>\n

on the road       I am on               the road
\nwith everyone vying                    to get      ahead<\/p>\n

 <\/pre>\n
\n
When The Morning Flushes To Perfect Fullness<\/h4>\n
The strangling vine flowers\nthrough the tree leaves\u2014\n\nits blooms like faces.\nDead faces, when strangled,\n\nleave nothing divine\nlike a tree that flowers\nwhen no flowers unfurl\n\nfrom other trees like it.\nNo branch without flowers,\n\nthe vine wore many faces\nwhile strangling\n\nthe tree. The tree dropped\nits leaves. The tree, vined\nby its strangler, flowered dead \n\nfaces. The flowers faced out\nuntil the flowering ended.\n\n
 <\/pre>\n
\n
Force<\/h4>\n
Not from the opening, the dark, but from the body. \n\nLike a worm, the arm. To rend a worm is to make two worms. \n\nThe arm flexed under the body. The body came through the dark\u2014\n           an arm and an arm and an arm. \n\nThe arms reached through the dark. \n\nLike a worm, the arm. The body squirmed to right itself. Lifting an\n           arm, the body came through the dark. \n\nWhosoever rends the body is the arm. \n\nWhosever flees the body is the worm. The worm dieth not. \n\nThe dark not from the opening, but from the body. \n\nTo rend a worm is to make a body. \n\nThe body crept through the opening like a worm hooked in a mouth. \n\nThe opening closeth not. The worm crept within the body\u2019s dark.\n\nWhosoever flees the arm is the worm. \n\nA worm in the mouth rends the body. \n\nLike a worm, the mouth. Like a mouth, the body\u2019s opening.\n<\/pre>\n<\/pre><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n
Rivka Clifton is the author of the chapbooks MOT and Agape (from Osmanthus Press). They have work in: Pleiades<\/em>, Guernica<\/em>, Cincinnati Review<\/em>, Salt Hill<\/em>, Colorado Review<\/em>, The Journal<\/em>, Beloit Poetry Journal<\/em>, and other magazines. They are an avid record collector and curator of curiosities.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Rush Hour Begins | When The Morning Flushes To Perfect Stillness | Force<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[89],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}