{"id":16985,"date":"2021-08-01T00:01:11","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T05:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=16985"},"modified":"2021-07-30T14:47:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:47:14","slug":"elegy-for-a-methodist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/16985","title":{"rendered":"Elegy for a Methodist"},"content":{"rendered":"

For my grandfather<\/em><\/p>\n

When I put you on in winter, a jacket torn at the elbows,
\n______<\/span>I taste each honeyed brick of a hive gold-slick,<\/p>\n

feel a buzz that echoes in the silent comb
\n______<\/span>between my ribs where a soul should nest.<\/p>\n

I wake at four and imagine my Northern lover a spy,
\n______<\/span>follow your accent like a warbler into gas stations.<\/p>\n

What biscuits rise in the ovens of the afterlife?
\n______<\/span>What leaves burn dark blue in your sanctuary?<\/p>\n

I cannot picture the celestial tailgate, your mother
\n______<\/span>reciting Virgil in Latin and stroking your hair,<\/p>\n

the heaven you believed was like your wedding
\n______<\/span>ring, no need to polish what\u2019s already gold<\/p>\n

and crushing your finger at the joint. I cannot recall
\n______<\/span>seeing you run or drink anything from a can,<\/p>\n

but now I dream you sip coffee salted with earth
\n______<\/span>from your county, mapping a route, avoiding<\/p>\n

interstates. You fold the ocean into the cedar chest.
\n______<\/span>You place an olive between the teeth<\/p>\n

of each driver who didn\u2019t crash into you. Your hair
\n______<\/span>is the hustle of wings. A hummingbird prays<\/p>\n

in your throat. The beautiful city of God is river rock
\n______<\/span>and pepper, is green spiral steps, it shivers<\/p>\n

with the first snow you felt behind your ears, pelts
\n______<\/span>like a dog through a field of broken stalks.<\/p>\n

It is the splintered fingers of your wife weaving
\n______<\/span>a wreath of baby\u2019s breath. Beneath your eyelids,<\/p>\n

two Saturns, rings of husks. The cobalt hums
\n______<\/span>a whir language and I string your neck with thoraxes,<\/p>\n

set a silver hymn of bees on the candles. You open
\n______<\/span>your mouth to the sting, croak \u201cMarching to Zion.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

For my grandfather When I put you on in winter, a jacket torn at the elbows, ______I taste each honeyed brick of a hive gold-slick, feel a buzz that echoes in the silent comb ______between my ribs where a soul should nest. I wake at four and imagine my Northern lover a spy, ______follow your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2247,"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":[69],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4pX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16985"}],"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\/2247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16985"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17097,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16985\/revisions\/17097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}