{"id":90901,"date":"2017-04-24T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=90901"},"modified":"2017-04-19T15:58:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T14:58:16","slug":"over-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/04\/over-there\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cOver There\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the massacres came, we wondered\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

We thought we were the \u201cOver There\u201d people.
\nGeorge M. Cohan sang us the way home:
\n\u201cWe won\u2019t come back till it\u2019s over over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

We said we had to fight them \u201cover there\u201d
\nso we wouldn\u2019t have to fight them here.
\n\u201cHome\u201d was mom and sweethearts and apple pie.<\/p>\n

It was long ago, but it was now. \u201cNow\u201d
\nwas cutting into the line, \u201cNow\u201d was cutting
\nin on the dance–floor, stealing our girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow\u201d kept issuing edicts; \u201cNow\u201d respected
\nnone of our idols, none of our gods, nothing
\nwe\u2019d \u201clonged for, worshipped or adored.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the massacres came, we were jolted
\ninto the world of Now, a Never-Never-land
\nof impossibilities, non-sequiturs<\/em>.<\/p>\n

How? Who? Where? Why? Did no one see it coming?
\nIt wasn\u2019t supposed to happen here<\/em>!
\nIt was okay \u201cover there,\u201d but not in our backyards!<\/p>\n

Who was watching the store? Who was watching the kids?
\nWe grew inured. We were worn down! We were worn out\u2026.
\nWe became like they were \u201cover there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even to wonder was an act of defiance.
\nWe stopped wondering. We slaughtered and were slaughtered.
\nWe addicted ourselves to slaughter.
\n_______________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Gary Corseri has published his works in countless venues around the world, including <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/a>, Op Ed News, CounterPunch, Common Dreams, Dissident Voice, L.A. (and <\/em>Hollywood\u2013) <\/em>Progressive, Village Voice, and <\/em>The New York Times. He has published two novels and two collections of poetry, edited <\/em>Manifestations, a literary anthology, and his dramas have been produced on <\/em>PBS-Atlanta 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<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the massacres came, we wondered\u2026. –
\nWe thought we were the \u201cOver There\u201d people.
\nGeorge M. Cohan sang us the way home:
\n\u201cWe won\u2019t come back till it\u2019s over over there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90901","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=90901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}