{"id":553,"date":"2009-05-12T19:29:28","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp\/2009\/05\/for_craig_arnold_lost_in_a_vol\/"},"modified":"2009-05-12T19:29:28","modified_gmt":"2009-05-13T02:29:28","slug":"for_craig_arnold_lost_in_a_vol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/2009\/05\/for_craig_arnold_lost_in_a_vol.html","title":{"rendered":"For Craig Arnold, lost in a volcano"},"content":{"rendered":"

With his lean line and robust id, his unfailing intelligence and ability to mutate metaphors down the page of his image stream, poet Craig Arnold deserved but almost certainly did not get a long life. (Obituary notice here<\/a>.) Because no body was found, he’s presumed dead. I hope he staggers out of the volcano everyone thinks he fell into to amaze the multitude.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, here’s Couple from Hell #1<\/i><\/a> in the hopes there will be many, many more couples from hell to follow.<\/p>\n

You walk out in the morning
\n
and the sky is broad and blue
\n
and across the pathway threads of silk
\n
glint in the sun   at the end of each a spider
\n
still wet from the egg   spins out a dragline
\n
and sails off into the breeze
\n
The air is so bright and busy
\n
your whole body feels it
\n
a puppet weightless on its wires
\n
and you let it guide you down a path
\n
you’ve never taken   along the river
\n
the little harbor at its mouth
\n
where three blue boats are moored
\n
at a dock cushioned with old tires
\n
where the only sound is the deep bass
\n
drumming of waves on wood
\n
Here is a small caf\u00e9
\n
opening for breakfast
\n
a zinc counter catching the light
\n
at every angle in bright rings of glitter
\n
A cup of black coffee is placed before you
\n
brimming with rainbow-colored foam
\n
a packet of sugar   a pat of butter
\n
a split roll of bread
\n
scored and toasted and still warm
\n
The butter is just soft enough to spread
\n
the coffee hot and sugared to perfect sweetness
\n
the bread grilled to the palest brown
\n
crisp but not quite dry
\n
You tear it neatly into pieces
\n
eat them slowly   when you finish
\n
you are exactly full<\/p>\n

Here are bread butter and coffee
\n
Here you are   your own body
\n
eating and drinking what you are given
\n
as one day you in turn will be devoured
\n
and that is all   You were never the lord
\n
of a lightless kingdom   any more
\n
than she has ever been its queen
and the world you talked each other into prison
\n
suddenly seems to be made of glass
\n
and your eyes see clear to the horizon
\n
and you feel the molecules of air
\n
part like a curtain   as if to let you pass<\/p>\n

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

With his lean line and robust id, his unfailing intelligence and ability to mutate metaphors down the page of his image stream, poet Craig Arnold deserved but almost certainly did not get a long life. (Obituary notice here.) Because no body was found, he’s presumed dead. I hope he staggers out of the volcano everyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/anotherbb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}