{"id":8611,"date":"2024-06-11T19:24:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T19:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=8611"},"modified":"2024-06-11T19:24:04","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T19:24:04","slug":"woodmanland-3-poems-by-peter-mladinic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/woodmanland-3-poems-by-peter-mladinic\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodmanland. 3 Poems by Peter Mladinic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Battle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rejection\u2019s not the end of the world.
\nWere there no rejection\u2014
\nfrom an editor, from a bank,
\nfrom a would be paramour\u2014
\nthere\u2019d be no acceptance, no embrace
\nin the world of letters,
\nin life, in love. The sting of hate
\nquite real. Then there\u2019s indifference\u2014
\na feeling of numb like when
\nyou get a shot in your hand
\nand your hand is numb\u2014
\nonly it\u2019s all in your mind.
\nThe end of the world is like when the man
\nwent out for a pizza and came home
\nand found his wife dead
\non the living room floor; or John
\nwho snapped his briefcase open
\nand shut before going into class,
\nand I know Susan remembers that snap
\nand learned as I did he died in his sleep.
\nThe lump in the breast, the X ray\u2019s
\ndark spot are signs. The night
\nour town\u2019s chief of police was out
\nin the middle of nowhere, not wearing
\na seatbelt, spelled the end.
\nMy father at the end battled cancer.
\nWhen healthy he bowled strikes,
\nwon games for his team.
\nWhy we always hear of someone\u2019s
\nbattling cancer miffs me.
\nIt\u2019s not like Daniel fighting the lion
\nin the Bible. Maybe it is.<\/p>\n

Tricky<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like you unconditionally
\nMy like for you is a red rose bouquet
\nan armful of flowers
\nI\u2019d like to place in your arms<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to pet your horse Tricky
\nMy like for you is a white cloud
\nin a blue sky
\na pond on which ducks glide<\/p>\n

unconditional
\nlike that song Night and Day
\ncoming through headphones
\nI want to know your eyelashes<\/p>\n

Have you ever been to the sweetheart
\nfestival in Clovis?
\nHave you ever said I\u2019m Angela
\nwhile shaking hands with a man
\nwith a name tag on his shirt? <\/p>\n

You love Tricky, Tricky loves you
\nOther than that I assume nothing
\nDo you bowl, drink Diet Coke?
\nHave you a pen pal in Indiana?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m full of questions
\nI wish they were long-stemmed white
\nroses<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to know something
\nabout your eyelashes
\nand if you talk on an iPhone or an android
\nYour blood-type, social security number and<\/p>\n

Where do you see yourself five years
\nfrom now don\u2019t concern me
\nWhat kind of perfume you wear
\nI\u2019m more interested in stuff like that <\/p>\n

Woodmanland<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to move to Woodmanland,
\nthere very different from here.
\nFor one, trees. Also cold.
\nNo ice fisher, my embrace the cold days
\npast, still I want to.
\nWhat would a place be like
\nin the middle of its name man?
\nLong winters, lots of trees, few people.
\nA hospital close by? Might not have to look
\nfar to see a moose. I\u2019ve never seen one.
\nA dirty look from a person\u2019s one thing,
\nbut a moose? Racks
\nlike dishes on roofs for cable, only oval,
\nshatter ribs in the wild, steeped in snow.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d rather see a moose from a bus window,
\nor the moose sits next to me on the bus.
\nI name him Roger. We pull into Houlton,
\nboringly like where I am. Only cleaner.
\nRoger says, What you don\u2019t see is the high
\ncrime rate.
\n\u2014But it\u2019s so clean.
\nHe says, Looks can deceive.
\nWhy did you want to leave where you were?
\n\u2014I liked the name, but now we\u2019re in Houlton.
\nHave you ever been to Woodmanland?
\nYes, he says. Now I\u2019m with you, only,
\nI\u2019m not real, and you\u2019ve gone nowhere.
\nOh, but I have, I think, not saying so,
\nnot wanting to contradict a moose.
\n 
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n 
\nPeter Mladinic<\/strong> has published three books of poems: Lost in Lea, Dressed for Winter<\/em>, and Falling Awake in Lovington<\/em>, all with the Lea County Museum Press. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico. His fourth book of poems, Knives on a Table <\/em>is available from Better Than Starbucks Publications. <\/p>\n

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Battle Rejection\u2019s not the end of the world. Were there no rejection\u2014 from an editor, from a bank, from a would be paramour\u2014 there\u2019d be no acceptance, no embrace in the world of letters, in life, in love. The sting of hate quite real. Then there\u2019s indifference\u2014 a feeling of numb like when you get … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[808,950,796,366,401,43],"tags":[18,136,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8614,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8611\/revisions\/8614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}