{"id":3784,"date":"2022-10-07T07:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=3784"},"modified":"2025-02-07T12:45:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T20:45:59","slug":"and-thank-every-hour-and-prayer-by-nicole-v-basta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/and-thank-every-hour-and-prayer-by-nicole-v-basta\/","title":{"rendered":"“and thank every hour” and “prayer” by nicole v basta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Issue<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in Willow Springs 90<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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“and thank every hour” and “prayer” by nicole v basta<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/332\/2022\/10\/New-Recording-35.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n\n

“and thank every hour”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nthe small yellow gods that are warblers
\nare skimming the scum at the top with their wings
\nand may all words be like the name of this bird
\nthe mouth trampling over the tongue to make sound
\nof our naming, an honest attempt to do justice
\nto what has no concept of justice and thank every hour
\nfor each breathing honorable thing not making a mess
\nof another, no crooked law or wicked judge needed
\nto mitigate wrongdoing-and remembering the wrens
\nthe tiny eyelashes on the cheek of the field
\nand how these birds throw the eggs out of the nests
\nof other birds instead of building their own
\nand so is instinct, in a way, like a soldier
\nwho follows an order from the top?
\ncan you tell me please where is it written
\nhow to forgive\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“prayer”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

no one is watching and then, i watch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a praying mantis ladders the window screen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and i don’t believe in mistakes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

so my looking at the moment she shimmies<\/p>\n\n\n\n

herself upside down, as i understand it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a kind of signal for a new year<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

one where when a dusty god in the lowgrass<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nips at my ankles, it translates to kissing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to a welt in honor of pleasure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

what i am trying to say is there’s some sort of heaven<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in her triangle head<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the way she turns toward me<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rocking as if weeping<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

how motion can soothe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how power can arrive on naked wings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without warning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i do believe in sequences<\/p>\n\n\n\n

how things belong to sound and meaning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a place from which we can measure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

mantis<\/em>, from the greek word for prophet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

i want to be the butterfly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in her mouth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a silence snatched from the air<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":3867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3784"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38835,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3784\/revisions\/38835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}