{"id":2406,"date":"2024-07-04T19:03:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T00:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thespectaclstg.wpengine.com\/?p=2406"},"modified":"2024-07-16T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T15:54:08","slug":"poetry-by-rachel-mannheimer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/?p=2406","title":{"rendered":"Poetry by Rachel Mannheimer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Haven<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

There was a time when we both worked
companionably from home.
Acre of grass. Goats
on the property behind us.
I made my own coffee now.
Moved the philodendrons
around to different windows. The third-floor tenants
left for class. Before, when I felt this way,
I\u2019d throw myself against his larger body,
hear my mind\u2019s steady thump.
The landlord was installing
a new hot-water heater,
so I didn\u2019t shower.
From the stoop, I watched
a lampshade rolling past.
In several hours, I might hear
the sound our car made
when he checked that it was locked.
Little beep.
My thoughts<\/em>, I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Warning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

All the leaves were down
in West Kill. I was on a trail
but not so far from here,
I\u2019d had a life.<\/p>\n

Sam and Timmy had one now,
not far
in the opposite direction.
The day before,
I\u2019d driven there.
The tire pressure light came on.
I told myself
it was the cold.<\/p>\n

Driving back, it was so dark
it was like driving into death\u2014
that feeling that I might dissolve.<\/p>\n

From his bed,
Sam understood.
Like an epilogue <\/em>
I shouldn\u2019t be present for.<\/em><\/p>\n

Or it was
what Liam said
about riding the bike at night.
Feeling like one with the trees<\/em>
and not wanting to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

I had
my interlocutors.<\/p>\n

But on the trail, inside my head,
old thoughts amassed
like leaves in the river,
plastered to rocks.<\/p>\n

The wind was picking up.
The trees creaked
like a floor.<\/p>\n

You have to ignore <\/em>
certain warnings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Feeling like one.
Not wanting to be.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Rachel Mannheimer was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she works as an international literary scout and as a contributing editor to The Yale Review<\/em>. Her first book, Earth Room<\/em>, was selected by Louise Gl\u00fcck as the inaugural winner of the Changes Book Prize and published in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram & X: @mannheimerup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Driving back, it was so dark \/ it was like driving into death \u2014 \/ that feeling that I might dissolve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,98],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406"}],"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=2406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thespectacle.wustl.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}