{"id":993,"date":"2017-12-02T11:26:41","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T16:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=993"},"modified":"2017-12-02T11:26:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T16:26:41","slug":"the-tattoo-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"The Tattoo (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A snake charmer,
\nwhose room looks like a pharmaceutical junkyard,
\nis memorizing religion on an atrophied wireless.
\n"Keep pledging that speck of hatred to tomorrow,"
\nhe repeats, while stabbing himself with a number
\nthree pencil. Last night, it seems, he tied his friends
\ntogether by the tail and painted lurid designs
\nupon his leatherette sofa with India ink.
\nHe takes this as an intense subliminal desire
\nto return to his homeland, but is afraid
\nthe people of Ohio will snicker at his tattoo
\nunless he learns more about god.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A snake charmer, whose room looks like a pharmaceutical junkyard, is memorizing religion on an atrophied wireless. "Keep pledging that speck of hatred to tomorrow," he repeats, while stabbing himself with a number three pencil. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[3,4],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem-2","tag-poem","tag-poetry-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=258","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":0},"title":"Ghost Shelf Life","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Produce breathes life into labor. Decayed cauliflower wins no hearts. Take that price tag off my skin. I live only in consumer memory. Inventory cannot define me. Customer satisfaction disgusts me. I am a shadow, bought and sold, an old bargain looking for a sucker. My s.k.u. is like a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poem"","block_context":{"text":"Poem","link":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Ghost.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Ghost.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Ghost.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redtinnoodles.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Ghost.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2633,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2633","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":1},"title":"This Year’s Gift","author":"Rick Young","date":"December 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"On Christmas I heard a few footsteps downstairs. I snuck to the steps, clutching one of my bears. What I saw down there took my breath away. There sat old Santa, no suit and no sleigh. He looked very tired, in overalls clad. When I saw no presents, I thought\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":2706,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2706","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":2},"title":"The Ballad of Bobby Crimo","author":"Rick Young","date":"July 5, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Murder chat rooms on the internet draw one in to crazies not yet met. Videos of bloodbaths filmed for fun. Cartoons of a shooter with long gun. Bobby's last post was of a beheading. He'll get revenge for years of bed-wetting. With auto rifle he climbed on a roof, shot\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":2772,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=2772","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":3},"title":"Weigh My Dust.","author":"Rick Young","date":"June 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"(Note from the author's son: Below is a snippet from one of our email exchanges in June 2021. I felt compelled to share this mention of a title for a poem.) Weight down to 179 today, aiming next\u00a0at high school mark of 150. Then a zen-like 85. New\u00a0poem\u00a0title: \"Weigh My\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":903,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=903","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":4},"title":"48th Anniversary Poem for N.","author":"Rick Young","date":"June 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I longed to see the cupcake of your smile. I thought you were my mommy for awhile. You pushed me on a swing until my head was lost. Of course I'd follow you at almost any cost. I'd trail behind your skirt tails like a pet. I'd kiss you 'til\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":506,"url":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/?p=506","url_meta":{"origin":993,"position":5},"title":"Crock","author":"Rick Young","date":"October 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If you should see a smile upon a crocodile, return to domicile: they're very volatile.","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\/993","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=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redtinnoodles.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}