{"id":2785,"date":"2021-04-27T18:29:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T00:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=2785"},"modified":"2024-04-22T02:46:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T02:46:07","slug":"in-a-field-in-western-nebraska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2021\/04\/27\/in-a-field-in-western-nebraska\/","title":{"rendered":"In a field in western Nebraska"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Every Tuesday and Thursday on my way to and from therapy
\nI drive past the old TV
\nIt sits atop an old, Sears Kenmore dryer on the other side of a barbed wire fence<\/p>\n

The TV is exposed to the elements
\nThere is no one to protect it
\nfrom the harshness of reality<\/p>\n

The TV listens to everything around it
\nand is continually forced to hear the last words
\nof the soon-to-be murdered bovine in the nearby feed lot<\/p>\n

Each time I pass, my gaze turns toward the TV
\nIt’s cracked, black screen is a soothing comfort to me
\nI hope it is doing well, even though its fractured face will never be repaired<\/p>\n

I smile at the TV
\nwave
\nwish it a good day<\/p>\n

The TV has been left out in the world to fend for itself
\nRain, hail, wind \u2013 it weathers everything the world has thrown at it
\nSuffering in silence as endless voices pass it by<\/p>\n

No one stops to see if the TV is okay
\nIt’s been there for a long time
\nwaiting in the lonely sunlight to be smiled upon<\/p>\n

Ask the people, they know it exists
\nthey think nothing of it
\ndisregarding the TV the moment they see it<\/p>\n

I drove by my inanimate friend today on my usual route
\nthe TV was gone and I was sad
\nI could not smile at it or wish it a good day<\/p>\n

On my return trip, I stopped to see what happened
\nThe TV was sitting behind the green dryer
\nits screen, melted and broken into large pieces<\/p>\n

I wondered how many people passed by and never noticed
\na familiar sight, now gone
\nwill anyone really be concerned<\/p>\n

I tapped the TV lightly on its top
\na spot where it was probably pounded on many times before
\nI told it I hoped it would be okay<\/p>\n

I drove my car west as I continued my journey home
\nand I wondered what will become of the TV
\nI will look for it on Thursday, smile, wave, and hope it has a good day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[254,285,377],"class_list":["post-2785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-nebraska","tag-poetry","tag-trauma"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3618,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2785\/revisions\/3618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}