{"id":46806,"date":"2014-09-01T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T11:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=46806"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:30:40","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:30:40","slug":"revolutionary-rats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/09\/revolutionary-rats\/","title":{"rendered":"Revolutionary Rats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cI think we are in rats\u2019 alley<br \/>\nWhere the dead men lost their bones\u201d<\/em> <strong><em>&#8212; <\/em><strong>T.S. Eliot<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re a rat in a maze and you can\u2019t get out.<br \/>\nThe rats are eating the other rats.<br \/>\nHow do you like this luscious rat food?<br \/>\nGorge your full on the putrid cats!<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re covered in dung and you smell like piss.<br \/>\nYou can\u2019t remember when your dark coat shone.<br \/>\nYou\u2019re living in sewers\u2014you know the hiss<br \/>\nOf the pipes of Empire winding down.<\/p>\n<p>They tell you you\u2019re free, they tell you you\u2019re brave.<br \/>\nBut you cower in corners afraid of the light.<br \/>\nA wheezy whistle comes out of your mouth.<br \/>\nA thousand whistles in fetid air take flight,<\/p>\n<p>Break the sound barrier, crackling hot.<br \/>\nIt\u2019s damp, your bones ache, the boil on your back<br \/>\nFesters, attracts the attention of other rats.<br \/>\nYou jump one, break its neck in two, eat.<\/p>\n<p>Eat and shit in the dark and damp,<br \/>\nPray to your Rat God for courage, strength<br \/>\nTo live another day in the cellar of the great house<br \/>\nWhere they sleep on cushions, oblivious, above.<\/p>\n<p>_____________________<\/p>\n<p><em>Gary Corseri has published his works in countless venues around the world, including <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service, Op Ed News, CounterPunch, Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, L.A<em>. (and <\/em>Hollywood<em>\u2013) <\/em>Progressive, Village Voice,<em> and <\/em>The New York Times<em>. He has published two novels and two collections of poetry, edited <\/em>Manifestations<em>, a literary anthology, and his dramas have been produced on <\/em>PBS-Atlanta<em> and elsewhere. He has taught at US public schools and prisons and at US and Japanese universities. He has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library. gary_corseri@comcast.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.countercurrents.org\/corseri300814.htm\" >Go to Original \u2013 countercurrents.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019re a rat in a maze and you can\u2019t get out.<br \/>\nThe rats are eating the other rats.<br \/>\nHow do you like this luscious rat food?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}