The Field Mouse lived
\nin the front left pocket
\nof a black down jacket
\nthat belonged to a Dapper Winter Man.
\nThe Dapper Winter Man packed
\nbottles of water and a tent
\nand beef jerky in January
\nto hike a triangle of the
\nAppalachian Trail. The Field Mouse
\npeeked and bumped with the heavier
\nsteps. Husks of cars from
\nthe 1930s led the way up and up
\nto the trail head, some had fallen
\ndown and down from the ledge.
\nAnd though it was January, the
\nDapper Winter Man grew warm hiking
\nup and up. He sat on a stump
\nand drank a whole bottle of water
\nand tied his down jacket
\nto a tree. He stretched his legs
\nin the fallen leaves, out and out,
\narms up and up. When he had rested
\nenough, he grabbed his bag and stood
\nand kept walking. The Field Mouse
\nwas left behind. The sun went down
\nand the trees turned as black
\nas the down jacket, still
\ntied to a branch. The Field Mouse
\nslept. The woods near the trail
\ncracked and popped and growled
\nand still the Field Mouse slept.
\nAnd when the Dapper Winter Man
\nknew he left his jacket with
\nthe Field Mouse, he made a small sound,
\nnot knowing where it might be.
\nThe Dapper Winter Man opened his tent
\nand built a fire miles away
\nand the Field Mouse slept.
\nWhen light slinked over the edge
\nof his mind and out onto
\nthe water below, the Dapper Winter Man
\nstretched his legs in the open tent,
\nout and out, arms up and up. He walked
\nall day under the arch of the sun,
\nlost already at dusk. When he sat
\nin the trees where the trail disappeared,
\nthe Field Mouse made a small sound.
\nThe Dapper Winter Man turned around
\nand left the way he came
\nto find his way out, walking
\ndown and down. When there was no light
\nleft for anyone, the Dapper Winter Man
\nfound his black down jacket
\nwith the Field Mouse inside
\nand made a small sound. He put each arm
\nin, out and out, felt the Field Mouse
\nin his front left pocket, and walked on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Field Mouse lived in the front left pocket of a black down jacket that belonged to a Dapper Winter Man. The Dapper Winter Man packed bottles of water and a tent and beef jerky in January to hike a triangle of the Appalachian Trail….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36235","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\/1119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36235"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36425,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36235\/revisions\/36425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}