{"id":1736,"date":"2020-04-28T10:12:22","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T14:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1736"},"modified":"2020-04-28T11:15:01","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T15:15:01","slug":"indoor-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1736","title":{"rendered":"Indoor Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guess I’ll count the forks again.<\/p>\n

The prize this time: a nip of gin.<\/div>\n
I know the spoon count now by heart.<\/div>\n
And knives were there right from the start.<\/div>\n
Yes, counting silverware is in my guide<\/div>\n
on stupid things to do while stuck inside.<\/div>\n
Another thing is taking matched-up socks,<\/div>\n
and dump them all together in a box.<\/div>\n
Then tie one to another one that isn’t its same color.<\/div>\n
You thought counting cutlery was slow, but this is duller.<\/div>\n
A zen-like exercise is match your breathing to your cats.<\/div>\n
But then they go chase shadows. Slow it down, you dirty rats!<\/div>\n
I gather all the cobwebs thinking I can make a scarf.<\/div>\n
But sometimes all the dead bugs inside make me want to barf.<\/div>\n
I scrub the tiles with tooth brushes and paint things on my teeth.<\/div>\n
I pick up every seat cushion and collect what’s beneath.<\/div>\n
I run in tiny circles. I call this the white tornado.<\/div>\n
I use push pins and paper clips to make mister potato.<\/div>\n
I look for Jesus faces in the cabinet doors and floor.<\/div>\n
I’ve thrown some deep hail Mary’s but they’re not caught any more.<\/div>\n
The last chapter of my guide<\/div>\n
gives you the tells on if you’ve died.<\/div>\n
If you’ve not eaten in a week or more.<\/div>\n
If your body lies, unmoving, on the kitchen floor.<\/div>\n
If a paper held beneath your nose does not show breath,<\/div>\n
odds are you can read my epilogue, called come, meet death.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guess I’ll count the forks again. The prize this time: a nip of gin. I know the spoon count now by heart. And knives were there right from the start. Yes, counting silverware is in my guide on stupid things to do while stuck inside. Another thing is taking matched-up socks, and dump them all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-list"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=90","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":0},"title":"Ghost’s Night Off","author":"Rick Young","date":"November 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The ghost of mediocrity is out bowling for dollars. Ten pins, he wins, the counter spins, he flies around and hollers. The game is just a sidelight. He should really be asleep. But smashing wood sometimes feels good, more fun than counting sheep. Tomorrow he'll resume his rounds, shepherding toward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ghost Night","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GhostNight.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GhostNight.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GhostNight.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GhostNight.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/GhostNight.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2592,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2592","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":1},"title":"Uncivil War","author":"Rick Young","date":"November 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome to the new civil war. It looks like chairman T has got the floor. It's not a filibuster, just overflowing bluster. He's counting on his side for a big score. The bikers and militia are all armed, and care no whit for those whom they have harmed. Protestors in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1013,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1013","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":2},"title":"Death Decks Out (1999)","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Death decks out in painful forms, staggered hours and waiting lines, fighting foul earth winds and storms, searching for more grand designs. Man is fruitless, funny, hollow, trapped inside a shell of time. Leaders fall and nations follow. Death alone can solve the rhyme. Tick on, clock with broken hands.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1577,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1577","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":3},"title":"Banana Kreme Republic","author":"Rick Young","date":"February 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Down in Mar a Lago he's installed his own rice paddy. People love a dictator. Reminds them of their daddy. He's thinking of banana trees, as part of the illusion. He's begun to celebrate the fruits of his collusion. He's got slaves (he calls them knaves) who do his every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1426,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=1426","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":4},"title":"Peace and Quiet","author":"Rick Young","date":"June 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"How can one photograph peace and quiet? Is it just a scene without a riot? Does tweeting of the birds count the same as human words? And where put hunting season's gunshots diet? Because part of the silence includes natural violence, some say peace can't be found. But I don't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2655,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2655","url_meta":{"origin":1736,"position":5},"title":"Baseball Strike","author":"Rick Young","date":"February 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Always looking to the sky, you and I. What we gonna count upon if baseball die? Russia's at the English Channel, by the by. I feel like the backup catcher in the rye. I've seen pop ups looked like they were vapor trails. Homers long enough to become holy grails.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1738,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions\/1738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}