{"id":402,"date":"2009-01-22T12:34:02","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T12:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/nucleus-import\/?p=402"},"modified":"2009-01-22T12:34:02","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T12:34:02","slug":"pop-by-barack-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/pop-by-barack-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"pop\/ by barack Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"
obama<\/div>\n

\nI see my face, framed within
\nPop’s black-framed glasses
\nAnd know he’s laughing too. * Pop<\/p>\n

Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken<\/p>\n

In, sprinkled with ashes,<\/p>\n

Pop switches channels, takes another<\/p>\n

Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks<\/p>\n

What to do with me, a green young man<\/p>\n

Who fails to consider the<\/p>\n

Flim and flam of the world, since<\/p>\n

Things have been easy for me;<\/p>\n

I stare hard at his face, a stare<\/p>\n

That deflects off his brow;<\/p>\n

I’m sure he’s unaware of his<\/p>\n

Dark, watery eyes, that<\/p>\n

Glance in different directions,<\/p>\n

And his slow, unwelcome twitches,<\/p>\n

Fail to pass.<\/p>\n

I listen, nod,<\/p>\n

Listen, open, till I cling to his pale,<\/p>\n

Beige T-shirt, yelling,<\/p>\n

Yelling in his ears, that hang<\/p>\n

With heavy lobes, but he’s still telling<\/p>\n

His joke, so I ask why<\/p>\n

He’s so unhappy, to which he replies . . .<\/p>\n

But I don’t care anymore, cause<\/p>\n

He took too damn long, and from<\/p>\n

Under my seat, I pull out the<\/p>\n

Mirror I’ve been saving; I’m laughing,<\/p>\n

Laughing loud, the blood rushing from<\/p>\n

his face<\/p>\n

To mine, as he grows small,<\/p>\n

A spot in my brain, something<\/p>\n

That may be squeezed out, like a<\/p>\n

Watermelon seed between<\/p>\n

Two fingers.<\/p>\n

Pop takes another shot, neat,<\/p>\n

Points out the same amber<\/p>\n

Stain on his shorts that I’ve got on mine,<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

Makes me smell his smell, coming<\/p>\n

From me; he switches channels, recites<\/p>\n

an old poem<\/p>\n

He wrote before his mother died,<\/p>\n

Stands, shouts, and asks<\/p>\n

For a hug, as I shink*, my<\/p>\n

Arms barely reaching around<\/p>\n

His thick, oily neck, and his broad back;<\/p>\n

’cause<\/p>\n

I see my face, framed within<\/p>\n

Pop’s black-framed glasses<\/p>\n

And know he’s laughing too. * <\/p>\n

—
\nBarack Obama wrote this poem when he was in college.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I see my face, framed within Pop’s black-framed glasses And know he’s laughing too. *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":546,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mahmag.org\/archive-english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}