{"id":16751,"date":"2021-03-24T11:20:41","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T16:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=16751"},"modified":"2021-03-31T21:19:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T02:19:09","slug":"high-school-punk-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/16751","title":{"rendered":"High School Punk Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Days we sat in classroom
\nffffffffff<\/span>chairs waiting for night,
\nhalf-listening to a lecture<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>on living dinosaurs<\/em>, whatever
\nlived so long, unchanged,
\nffffffffff<\/span>for generations, scaly and bug-eyed,<\/p>\n

clawed. I tapped out drum beats
\nffffffffff<\/span>on my knee, counted along
\nwith the clock\u2019s metronome,<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>drove home past the old depot,
\nthe train parked outside an exhibit
\nffffffffff<\/span>we\u2019d visited in first grade.<\/p>\n

How quickly the air changes
\nffffffffff<\/span>in the VFW, electric
\nwith a hundred bodies. Children<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>of tobacco fields, landlocked
\nchildren, children of dirty snow.
\nffffffffff<\/span>David\u2019s brother bought us<\/p>\n

a case of PBR and we drank it
\nffffffffff<\/span>in the parking lot, a few
\ncheap beers in my gut. Some guy<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>sells his local zine on a table
\nin the back, copied at Kinko\u2019s
\nffffffffff<\/span>and stapled in his basement.<\/p>\n

House lights down, a little feedback.
\nffffffffff<\/span>The fresh hum of a guitar
\nlifted from its case. Everything<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>seems to vibrate a little,
\nlike in the moments before
\nffffffffff<\/span>a fight. David\u2019s hand<\/p>\n

grabs my shoulder for stability
\nffffffffff<\/span>as the music begins\u2014
\nsomething happens.<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>My feet don\u2019t touch the floor
\nfor minutes at a time. A man
\nffffffffff<\/span>jumps on my shoulders to meet<\/p>\n

a microphone thrust to his mouth.
\nffffffffff<\/span>David falls on the floor,
\nwe pick him up. Tomorrow<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>he\u2019ll find some excuse
\nfor his busted eyebrow to tell
\nffffffffff<\/span>his manager at the supermarket.<\/p>\n

For now we can live in the now.
\nffffffffff<\/span>Children of riffs, of blast beats,
\nwanting to be anyone except ourselves.<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>Between bands we go outside
\nfor a smoke. A little blood
\nffffffffff<\/span>runs down next to David\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re covered in sweat,
\nffffffffff<\/span>breathing hard. Against
\nthe cold night air the smoke<\/p>\n

ffffffffff<\/span>and breath make a small cloud.
\nDavid throws his cigarette butt
\nffffffffff<\/span>into the grass \u2013 it cuts across<\/p>\n

the haze the way a scream or a note
\nffffffffff<\/span>or a dragonfly, any welcome
\ndisruption, momentarily divides the air.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JIM WHITESIDE<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days we sat in classroom ffffffffffchairs waiting for night, half-listening to a lecture ffffffffffon living dinosaurs, whatever lived so long, unchanged, fffffffffffor generations, scaly and bug-eyed, clawed. I tapped out drum beats ffffffffffon my knee, counted along with the clock\u2019s metronome, ffffffffffdrove home past the old depot, the train parked outside an exhibit ffffffffffwe\u2019d visited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[67],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4mb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16751"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16751"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16773,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16751\/revisions\/16773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}