{"id":184,"date":"2013-03-30T09:30:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T14:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/archives\/184"},"modified":"2013-03-30T10:15:34","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T15:15:34","slug":"an-easter-poem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"An Easter poem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Feeding the Masses<\/strong><br \/>\n     by O.P.W. Fredericks<\/p>\n<p>Little red wagon in tow, <em>crazy<\/em> Mabel<br \/>\nseeks the safety of shadows.<\/p>\n<p>Teetering on a four high stack of pallets<br \/>\nunder the stark white of security lights,<br \/>\nMabel reaches into the dumpster,<br \/>\nfinds a half good bag of pumpernickel,<br \/>\na lump of bologna, a dented can of yams,<br \/>\nand wiggles a crushed box of Cheerios<br \/>\nfrom beneath the two rats she greets<br \/>\nas they feast on two spotted brown bananas.<br \/>\nHaving served their purpose, pallets<br \/>\nnow snap between her gnarled hands,<br \/>\nkindling for the fire.<\/p>\n<p>At the foot of the Grocery\u2019s steel steps<br \/>\nbeneath a locked steel door,<br \/>\na brown bag reads, <em>Happy Easter, Mabel<\/em><br \/>\natop the milk crates marked <em>Expired<\/em>.<br \/>\nShe pulls a jug with yesterday&#8217;s date<br \/>\nand does the math; twenty plates at least<br \/>\nfrom the bagged canned ham.<\/p>\n<p>The spired steeple now in sight, Mabel<br \/>\nclimbs a hill and makes her way home.<br \/>\nShe bows her head in passing,<br \/>\nmumbles a few words to a prayer<br \/>\nshe can\u2019t quite remember,<br \/>\nas she turns the corner.  Muffled mews<br \/>\nand yips greet their host as squeaky wheels<br \/>\ncross the threshold.<\/p>\n<p>A pitted pot simmers in the shadows<br \/>\nof St. Francis.  Mabel portions her sunrise<br \/>\nsupper for the masses on scavenged<br \/>\npie plates.  Finger tips pass from lips<br \/>\ntowards the rising steeple<br \/>\nand Mabel thanks the Lord<br \/>\nfor their bounty.<\/p>\n<p>~<\/p>\n<p>Happy Easter to all and please remember those less fortunate and those who care for animals in the name of St. Francis of Assisi.<\/p>\n<p>O.P.W. Fredericks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feeding the Masses by O.P.W. Fredericks Little red wagon in tow, crazy Mabel seeks the safety of shadows. Teetering on a four high stack of pallets under the stark white of security lights, Mabel reaches into the dumpster, finds a half good bag of pumpernickel, a lump of bologna, a dented can of yams, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-thoughts-and-refledctions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.opwfredericks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}