{"id":20282,"date":"2022-09-11T07:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=20282"},"modified":"2022-09-11T07:45:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T11:45:26","slug":"evolving-emotions-joy-poetry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2022\/09\/11\/evolving-emotions-joy-poetry\/","title":{"rendered":"Evolving Emotions: Joy-Poetry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six Twenty-Five<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hospital chatter comprised of hushed whispers<\/p>\n

A cacophony of voices<\/p>\n

And low sighs<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Six twenty-two<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A cart’s wheels squeaking through the halls<\/p>\n

Maddening in its movement<\/p>\n

Never ceasing<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Six twenty-three<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Machines whirring on the hour<\/p>\n

The PA system’s jargon tumbles into the void<\/p>\n

The clock ticks methodically<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Six twenty-four<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A girl watches<\/p>\n

She smiles where shy lay<\/p>\n

Extended by<\/p>\n

Wires and cords<\/p>\n

An IV drains her<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the creases beneath her eyes<\/p>\n

The folded lines circling her mouth<\/p>\n

Refuse to quit<\/p>\n

She smiles triumphantly<\/p>\n

Whether it is old wisdom written in her genes<\/p>\n

Or young innocence that drives her face<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is unimportant<\/p>\n

She smiles despite it all<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her body decays<\/p>\n

With fatigue that makes the bones melt<\/p>\n

Pain that drives pleading<\/p>\n

She smiles<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s unnatural<\/p>\n

And odd<\/p>\n

A peculiar display<\/p>\n

In such a place<\/p>\n

The human will<\/p>\n

Falls apart<\/p>\n

And yet finds contentment<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her pale eyes gaze at blank white walls<\/p>\n

Her ears absorb the speech in the halls<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She looks inward<\/p>\n

To starry sky camping trips<\/p>\n

And family movie nights<\/p>\n

To swimming pool laps with rounds of Marco Pollo<\/p>\n

The times when things were beautiful<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her parents will be here soon<\/p>\n

Her brother and sister too<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She smiles at the thought of six twenty-five<\/p>\n

Almost to the parking lot<\/p>\n

And through the revolving doors<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They will be here<\/p>\n

Beside her<\/p>\n

To reminisce and laugh<\/p>\n

About what once was<\/p>\n

And could still be<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite it all,<\/p>\n

She smiles<\/p>\n

Bright and bold<\/p>\n

Because things have been beautiful<\/p>\n

And will again<\/p>\n

At six twenty-five<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six Twenty-Five   Hospital chatter comprised of hushed whispers A cacophony of voices And low sighs   Six twenty-two   A cart’s wheels squeaking through the halls Maddening in its movement Never ceasing   Six twenty-three   Machines whirring on the hour The PA system’s jargon tumbles into the void The clock ticks methodically   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2246,"featured_media":20290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1774,561,1830,281,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20282"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20509,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20282\/revisions\/20509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}