{"id":452,"date":"2018-05-12T22:33:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T22:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=452"},"modified":"2018-05-12T22:33:41","modified_gmt":"2018-05-12T22:33:41","slug":"poem-of-the-month-regret-by-steve-alden-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=452","title":{"rendered":"Poem of the Month: Regret by Steve Alden Nelson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Regret is a twisted muscle<\/p>\n<p>Hanging on by torn cartilage<\/p>\n<p>It will not heal itself or diminish over time<\/p>\n<p>It will instead breed infection and a lingering pain<\/p>\n<p>That will erupt from time to time<\/p>\n<p>Flaring up like a psychic volcano<\/p>\n<p>Shooting out sideways during inappropriate times and places<\/p>\n<p>Regret will manifest in tempers lost during traffic jams<\/p>\n<p>Regret will load the gun and name some other<\/p>\n<p>For the invisible ache inside<\/p>\n<p>Regret will wear your blankets threadbare<\/p>\n<p>The chill seeping through the screen door of frayed fabric<\/p>\n<p>And into your dreams<\/p>\n<p>The ones that used to carry you to distant magical lands<\/p>\n<p>Now bordering on nightmares<\/p>\n<p>Regret stands guard in full battle gear<\/p>\n<p>Regret is patient<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Smiling ear to ear<\/p>\n<p>Regret will not let go<\/p>\n<p>It must be slowly severed by the diamond blade of clarity<\/p>\n<p>By the pulleys winches and grinding gears of self-awareness<\/p>\n<p>Regret knows itself to be a waste of time<\/p>\n<p>But is no less relentless<\/p>\n<p>Regret does not want us to figure out the rules of the game<\/p>\n<p>But we begin<\/p>\n<p>By gently rattling the house of cards<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That regret would have us believe is an impenetrable fortress<\/p>\n<p>Regret looks hungrily toward a long future<\/p>\n<p>But must be relegated to the past<\/p>\n<p>Where it is only vague memory<\/p>\n<p>Ashes of remorse<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Blown away by the gentle winds of self-love<\/p>\n<p>And forgiveness<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/download-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-453\" src=\"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/download-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Steve Alden Nelson is a screenwriter, poet, playwright, lyricist, award-winning actor, and former newspaper columnist.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>He lives in Silver Lake (Los Angeles) with his wonderful husband Sab.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Regret is a twisted muscle Hanging on by torn cartilage It will not heal itself or diminish over time It <a href=\"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=452\" class=\"more-link\">[&hellip;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-noellesickelswp","post-452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-allposts","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452\/revisions\/454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}