{"id":265,"date":"2018-08-09T01:28:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T01:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=265"},"modified":"2018-07-25T22:34:53","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T22:34:53","slug":"by-katharine-coggeshall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2018\/08\/09\/by-katharine-coggeshall\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry by Katharine Coggeshall"},"content":{"rendered":"
Katharine Coggeshall is a technical writer-editor living in the mountains of New Mexico. She dabbles in everything from writing newspaper columns to R&D 100 applications to poetry. There is no adventure she is unwilling to try.<\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

Inferiority Complex<\/h3>\n

I think it\u2019s a nonrestrictive clause<\/em>, I say, defending my twinning commas like a mother defends her children who are far too old to be dressed alike but desperate to receive attention, even if it\u2019s negative attention, like a soggy potato chip or some other disingenuous psychobabble spouted by pediatricians with no kids. DINKS, they\u2019re called\u2014dual income no kids\u2014living a life of caviar and feasting on their judgements, overstuffed to the point of no longer seeing their feet or seeing the path my feet have tread. Perhaps I have said too much with my commas, laying my hand on the table and revealing no more than a pair of twos. My cards slip from my clammy hands just as my colleagues all murmur their agreement, ending my lifetime inferiority complex.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First Date<\/h3>\n

\u201cOn occasion\u201d is my go-to,
\nmy red lipstick in my bag,
\nmy speed-dial for all topics,
\nmy translation for the perfunctory.
\nI spritz this two-word statement,
\ncomb it through my hair,
\nbefore donning the obligatory
\nLBD and kitten heels.<\/p>\n

You get used to telling half-truths,
\nto flossing out the rest
\nand finding all the depth
\nstill plaqued upon your teeth.
\nBut the words that I choke back
\nwould only choke him more
\nas he suffocates from plunging
\nto levels down so deep.<\/p>\n

I am sparing lives
\nevery Friday, half past nine
\nwith my reticent retort\u2014
\n\u201con occasion\u201d\u2014
\non my tongue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Something Good<\/h3>\n

I need something good to happen today. I\u2019d pay 50 cents for a miracle. Or use those silver circles to replace the blue-black ones beneath my eyes. Though the silver would drip down my throat and choke me like my silver spoon always does, eroding my molars with the acid, creating holes in my already cracked self-image. It\u2019s a high price to pay, but we\u2019re talking about a miracle after all.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something in the sky that whispers no miracles are to be had today, by me or any other \u201cworshiper-when-convenient\u201d K-mart patron of God who only acknowledges His existence in dire times (or when wrapped around a toilet bowl). The Norse and Greeks harnessed the power of statistics when weighing their potential for miracles; my scale is far more lopsided and inclined to deny me donuts\u2026and miracles.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019ll keep my 50 cents and try my luck at the lottery instead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Farewell to Confidence<\/h3>\n

On a full moon fortnight,
\nwicked wind wills
\nup my spine, through my hair,
\naround my ear, and to my mind
\nwhere it spreads like cyanide
\nthrough the folded cornfield maze,
\nshadow cast upon the screen
\ncamera-lensed against my eye
\nand focal-pointed straight at me.
\nI\u2019m a precision shot\u2014
\narrows fly, daggers rain.
\nNone survive the wicked wind.
\nFrom outside, a peaceful scene
\nwhile cornfields die in hurricanes.
\nFarewell, my confidence.
\nUntil we meet again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katharine Coggeshall is a technical writer-editor living in the mountains of New Mexico. She dabbles in everything from writing newspaper columns to R&D 100 applications to poetry. There is no adventure she is unwilling to try.   Inferiority Complex I think it\u2019s a nonrestrictive clause, I say, defending my twinning commas like a mother defends … 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-4h","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","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=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}