{"id":1421,"date":"2019-08-25T01:42:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T01:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2019-08-16T20:45:39","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T20:45:39","slug":"back-seat-driver-by-j-h-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/08\/25\/back-seat-driver-by-j-h-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Seat Driver by J H Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

J H Martin is from London, England but has no fixed abode. His writing has appeared in a number of places in Asia, Europe and the Americas. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Back Seat Driver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven \u2013 three \u2013 six
\nTime to get back on the bus
\nTime to get back on that wagon
\nTime to head back around these bends again <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their sun glittered birch
\nAnd their empty shelters
\nI watch them give way \u2013 as they always did
\nTo diverted traffic
\nWhich circles and backs up this litter bin mind
\nWith microgram trash and fast fried flashbacks <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of them ghost years and badly smeared stains
\nWhich bear no relation and have no connection to
\nThis pressing window of Monday to Friday
\nAnd its Nine to Five <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No \u2013 that primary school and those blue pallet stacks
\nAnd all of these people \u2013
\nWrapped up in their parkas and their scarves and their hats \u2013
\nAll of them have their own window to look through
\nAnd to see what they see <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here – but still there
\nWho am I to tell them any thing at all? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it January in Tongzi? Or is it Topo\u013e\u010dany in March? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sat in front of my own self
\nThis back seat driver couldn\u2019t even claim to know that <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now \u2013 as it was \u2013 and as it has been for years
\nIt\u2019s still stuck on the same street \u2013 this faded store front
\nWhich used to sell charm and its cheap knock-off dreams
\nTo anyone fooled by its once filled out frame \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This now fraying seat this plastic fixture
\nThis reflection I see in that iced window pane \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grey hooded stranger in hand me down clothes
\nWho loves where he stays but cannot stand where I am \u2013
\nBack on this bus and back on that wagon
\nA passenger craving far more than he needs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J H Martin is from London, England but has no fixed abode. His writing has appeared in a number of places in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Back Seat Driver Seven \u2013 three \u2013 six Time to get back on the bus Time to get back on that wagon Time to head back around these … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-mV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1423,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}