{"id":1710,"date":"2018-06-07T22:48:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T05:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2018-06-08T04:01:44","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T11:01:44","slug":"binocular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/binocular\/","title":{"rendered":"Binocular"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m participating in an online MOOC course on “How to make a Poem” offered by Manchester City University.\u00a0There are several hundred participants and 3 professors.\u00a0 It can get kind of chaotic in the comments section.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My first effort is entitled “Binocular”.<\/p>\n

It was inspired by this image of a pair of binoculars at a<\/p>\n

waterfront viewpoint somewhere.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Drew Graham on Unsplash)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Binocular<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Twas a gray dull day of January
\nNot a ray to shine upon the memory<\/p>\n

A sharp breeze through my jacket leaks
\nSodden clouds threatened watery cheeks.
\nI found myself wandering a lonely fishing pier
\nBut for the brooding gulls, no cause for cheer<\/p>\n

Alone to face the scudding seas
\nStood a pair of cold iron binocular
\nStationed at attention
\n\u201cCome look, please?\u201d<\/p>\n

So for want of some distraction
\nI pursued this simple attraction,
\nI parted with a quart’
\nand set my view to distant port.<\/p>\n

Much to my surprise
\nI gazed upon a paradise.
\nWhere once was only dismal gray
\nA warm sandy isle lay.<\/p>\n

And on that isle stood a tiki bar
\nRight up close, not far.
\nServed a fetching maid,
\nCold beer and lemonade.<\/p>\n

In the distance, a wooden ketch,
\nwaiting for a sailor and his throb.
\nto cleave the waves asunder
\nin search for new ports down under.<\/p>\n

Just then I heard a CLICK,
\nmy vision was lost but quick.
\nAnd in its place a sign did read
\n“To view again, one quarter you will need”<\/p>\n

I fumbled my pockets thru
\nto regain the vision for a few.
\nI slipped the coin in the slot.
\nBut what I saw was paradise not.<\/p>\n

Twas only a dull gray day of January
\nNot a ray to shine upon a memory<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m participating in an online MOOC course on “How to make a Poem” offered by Manchester City University.\u00a0There are several hundred participants and 3 professors.\u00a0 It can get kind of chaotic in the comments section.  ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,39],"tags":[50,30],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-me","category-fiction","tag-poetry","tag-writing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p32pSF-rA","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1714,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1710\/revisions\/1714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjkpryde.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}