{"id":106543,"date":"2022-06-25T09:21:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-25T13:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/?p=106543"},"modified":"2022-06-25T13:25:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-25T17:25:43","slug":"casper-the-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2022\/06\/casper-the-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Hour 1 &#8211; Casper the Ghost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had a toy when I was young<br \/>\nof Casper of the Ghost<br \/>\nHe smiled in his tray<br \/>\nuntil it was sheathed away<br \/>\nThe tray would come back empty<br \/>\nand for years<br \/>\nI didn\u2019t know where he went. <\/p>\n<p>I open the door to our apartment<br \/>\nand am met with<br \/>\nsilence. <\/p>\n<p>Not the silence of waiting<br \/>\nof bags and coats left on chairs<br \/>\nfrom when you picked your outfit<br \/>\njust before rushing out the door<br \/>\na risky game<br \/>\nto catch the bus on time<br \/>\nof dishes left on the table<br \/>\nall to be cleaned<br \/>\nwhen you return. <\/p>\n<p>This is a stagnant silence<br \/>\nit rests heavy<br \/>\nliving room and kitchen empty<br \/>\nexcept for my dishes<br \/>\nwhich are piling in the sink<br \/>\nmy spoken words drop<br \/>\nunanswered to the floor. <\/p>\n<p>I lock the door when I get home<br \/>\nbecause I know<br \/>\nno one will follow me in<br \/>\neven hours too late<br \/>\nloud happy affectionate drunk<br \/>\nto tie my shoes and<br \/>\nsay \u201cI love you.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The trick to Friendly Casper<br \/>\nwas a second compartment<br \/>\nhidden in the tray<br \/>\nwhere he would get pushed<br \/>\nif sheathed just right<br \/>\nI figured it out<br \/>\nholding the plastic up to light<br \/>\nto see his silhouette<br \/>\nframed in orange amber<br \/>\nHe was trapped away<br \/>\nin an uncomfortable home<br \/>\nbut would always return<br \/>\nsmiling still<br \/>\nwhen the tray was flipped. <\/p>\n<p>Your shoes still clutter<br \/>\nour muddy shoe tray. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had a toy when I was young of Casper of the Ghost He smiled in his tray until it was sheathed away The tray would come back empty and for years I didn\u2019t know where he went. I open the door to our apartment&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110319,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106543\/revisions\/110319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}