{"id":4891,"date":"2009-06-21T11:42:46","date_gmt":"2009-06-21T15:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=4891"},"modified":"2009-06-21T11:42:46","modified_gmt":"2009-06-21T15:42:46","slug":"gratuitous-sunday-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/gratuitous-sunday-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Gratuitous Sunday Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(I love the word “gratuitous” — one of those ambiguous words, like “cleave,”
\nwhich hold multiple contradictory meanings until you put them in context.
\nIn this post’s title, of course, gratuitous<\/em> isn’t wearing its uncalled for<\/em> or
\nunjustified<\/em> persona; it’s meant to connote something like unasked for<\/em> or
\nfreely offered<\/em>, since I seldom post on Sundays anymore.)<\/p>\n

Just encountered this lovely bit in today’s edition of the Writer’s Almanac<\/em><\/a> e-newsletter. It seems to fit, on a June Sunday on which the temperature threatens to go into triple digits for, like, the fifth or sixth straight day.<\/p>\n

Rendezvous<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let’s meet in Santa Fe
\nwhere we can stroll holding hands
\nalong the acequia madre<\/em> [1]<\/sup>
\nthen sip espresso
\nat the bookstore on Garcia Street.<\/p>\n

Let’s meet in Santa Fe
\nand bask like lizards
\non the rocks at Bandelier [2]<\/sup>
\nor explore the secrets
\nof remote creek beds.<\/p>\n

Let’s meet in Santa Fe
\nto share our stories and let
\nthe whisper of cottonwood leaves
\nfill the silences between.<\/p>\n

Let’s meet in Santa Fe
\nand eat posole<\/em><\/span> with our eggs
\nand laugh, and love, and turn
\nthe calendar to the wall
\nfor a few brief days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Ted McMahon, from The Uses of Imperfection<\/em>)<\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/sup> The acequia madre<\/em> — literally “mother ditch” — is an old Spanish-era irrigation canal in Santa Fe’s east side. See desert11sailor’s excellent Flickr photo gallery<\/a>, from which the photo at the top of this post comes, for a walking tour to put you in the mood. (If you need help, I mean.) The Writer’s Almanac<\/em> misspells the first word as acequi<\/em>n<\/strong><\/span>a<\/em>, which as far as I know doesn’t mean anything at all. (No idea how McMahon spelled it in the original — can’t find it anywhere online out of its Almanac<\/em> context.)<\/p>\n

[2]<\/sup> “Bandelier” is Bandelier National Monument<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(I love the word “gratuitous” — one of those ambiguous words, like “cleave,” which hold multiple contradictory meanings until you put them in context. In this post’s title, of course, gratuitous isn’t wearing its uncalled for or unjustified persona; it’s meant to connote something like unasked for or freely offered, since I seldom post on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_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":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","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}},"categories":[183,251],"tags":[1292,1293,1294,1295,1296],"class_list":{"0":"post-4891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-everyday-life","7":"category-poetry-writing_cat","8":"tag-santa-fe","9":"tag-new-mexico","10":"tag-ted-mcmahon","11":"tag-acequia-madre","12":"tag-bandelier","13":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-1gT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4901,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions\/4901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}