{"id":398,"date":"2022-04-03T17:16:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-03T17:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/john-shirley.com\/blog\/?p=398"},"modified":"2022-04-03T17:18:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T17:18:04","slug":"398-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/john-shirley.com\/blog\/398-2\/","title":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/poetryfoundation.us12.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=c993b88231f5f84146565840e&amp;id=1af419591e&amp;e=40e90f2fe9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Are Your Poems so Dark?<\/a>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By Linda Pastan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><th>Isn&#8217;t the moon dark too,<br>most of the time?<br><br>And doesn&#8217;t the white page<br>seem unfinished<br><br>without the dark stain<br>of alphabets?<br><br>When God demanded light,<br>he didn&#8217;t banish darkness.<br><br>Instead he invented<br>ebony and crows<br><br>and that small mole<br>on your left cheekbone.<br><br>Or did you mean to ask<br>&#8220;Why are you sad so often?&#8221;<br><br>Ask the moon.<br>Ask what it has witnessed.<\/th><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption>copyright by Linda Pastan &#8211; thanks to the Poetry Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Linda Pastan Isn&#8217;t the moon dark too,most of the time? And doesn&#8217;t the white pageseem unfinished without the dark stainof alphabets? When God demanded light,he didn&#8217;t banish darkness. Instead he inventedebony and crows and that small moleon your left cheekbone. Or did you mean to ask&#8220;Why are you sad so often?&#8221; Ask the moon.Ask&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Are Your Poems so Dark? - John Shirley Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/john-shirley.com\/blog\/398-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Are Your Poems so Dark? - John Shirley Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Linda Pastan Isn&#8217;t the moon dark too,most of the time? And doesn&#8217;t the white pageseem unfinished without the dark stainof alphabets? When God demanded light,he didn&#8217;t banish darkness. Instead he inventedebony and crows and that small moleon your left cheekbone. 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