{"id":65,"date":"2009-06-23T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-23T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=65"},"modified":"2011-11-22T12:31:32","modified_gmt":"2011-11-22T20:31:32","slug":"this-is-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/this-is-why\/","title":{"rendered":"This is Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> have not been posting much of late. Mostly it’s because I hate to whine to you. My job is killing me by inches, but I have<\/i> a job, which is more than I can say of many of my friends. I’ve written not a word on two different stalled novels. And so it goes.<\/p>\n

And then there was today, which in my current state permits me to share this poem, which I have just written and not revised at all. Caveat emptor. Or something.<\/p>\n

\n

A Sort of a Sonnet Written on the Occasion of My Son Pleading Guilty to Homicide<\/i><\/p>\n

There is a place where water meets the sea
A beach of bled-white powdered bones ground fine
As moments for a perfect sand that coats
Every choking lung and gritty grey lips
That purse as if to kiss each dead moment.<\/p>\n

And only here is the mystery stripped,
The mystery of human suffering
Stripped bare as bones, bleached as a desert bone,
Stripped bare for what it is – the swirl of motes
In a single reedy shaft of sunlight.<\/p>\n

We fail because we cannot bear to be
In that bright place where water meets the sea.<\/p>\n

\n

I am leaving work to go to the Cathedral. Then home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have not been posting much of late. Mostly it’s because I hate to whine to you. My job is killing me by inches, but I have a job, which is more than I can say of many of my friends. I’ve written not a word on two different stalled novels. And so it goes. And then there was today, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-rant"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-13","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/o-clavis-david\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":0},"title":"O Clavis David","author":"Thom","date":"20 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing on, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, \"the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open\" (Rev. 3:7).If you are interested in learning more about the O Antiphons,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chant"","block_context":{"text":"Chant","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/chant\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1906,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/o-clavis-david-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":1},"title":"O Clavis David","author":"Thom","date":"20 December 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing on, we come closer and closer to the birth of the Messiah, \"the holy one, the true, who holds the key of David, who opens and no one shall close, who closes and no one shall open\" (Revelation 3:7). \"And I will lay the key of the house of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chant"","block_context":{"text":"Chant","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/chant\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/silver_cross_key-195x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/a-meditation-on-silence\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":2},"title":"A Meditation on Silence","author":"Thom","date":"31 October 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There are two kinds of people - those who know the value of silence and those who do not. The silent man may be moved to speak, to shout, and even perhaps to bellow in righteous indignation if the circumstances require. He may do so reluctantly or even with fear,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Meditations"","block_context":{"text":"Meditations","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/meditations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29360,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/happy-saint-nicholas-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":3},"title":"Happy Saint Nicholas Day","author":"Thom","date":"06 December 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"How Saint Nicholas was transmogrified into Santa Claus, I'll never know. \"Jolly Old Saint Nick\" was by all accounts a thin man, most famous for giving gifts to prostitutes and punching heretics. That whole \"eight tiny reindeer\" thing seems like a bit of a come down. Wait, prostitutes? Well, yes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fun"","block_context":{"text":"Fun","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/fun\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nicholas-slaps.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89148,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/jolly-old-saint-nicholas-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":4},"title":"Jolly Old Saint Nicholas!","author":"Thom","date":"06 December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Saint Nicholas Day! How Saint Nicholas was transmogrified into Santa Claus, I'll never know. \"Jolly Old Saint Nick\" was by all accounts a thin man, most famous for giving gifts to prostitutes and punching heretics. That whole \"eight tiny reindeer\" thing seems like a bit of a come down.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nicholas-slaps.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":90243,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/jolly-old-saint-nicholas-2018\/","url_meta":{"origin":65,"position":5},"title":"Jolly Old Saint Nicholas!","author":"Thom","date":"06 December 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy Saint Nicholas Day! How Saint Nicholas was transmogrified into Santa Claus, I'll never know. \"Jolly Old Saint Nick\" was by all accounts a thin man, most famous for giving gifts to prostitutes and punching heretics. That whole \"eight tiny reindeer\" thing seems like a bit of a come down.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Annual"","block_context":{"text":"Annual","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/annual\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/nicholas-slaps.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1763,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/1763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}