{"id":2707,"date":"2016-04-11T00:42:27","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T00:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/?page_id=2707"},"modified":"2016-04-11T00:42:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T00:42:27","slug":"michael-n-thompson-april-2016","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fullofcrow.com\/poetry\/archives\/michael-n-thompson-april-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael N. Thompson, April 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tennessee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Smyrna is one of those burgs<br \/>\nwhere the kids dream<br \/>\nof getting away from,<br \/>\nbut the tractor boys<br \/>\nusually end up on a John Deere<br \/>\nto match their caps<br \/>\nand the cowgirls work the room<br \/>\nat D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu in Knoxville<\/p>\n<p>Murfreesboro houses failures<br \/>\nwho couldn\u2019t make the grade<br \/>\ndown on Music Row<\/p>\n<p>There are always jobs available<br \/>\nat the Nissan plant on Route 10<\/p>\n<p>Clarksville tries to act<br \/>\nlike it\u2019s more than a line<br \/>\nfrom that Monkees song,<br \/>\nbut being in tornado country<br \/>\nis nothing to brag about<\/p>\n<p>Memphis paints a romantic picture<br \/>\nof Graceland and Beale Street,<br \/>\nbut this ain\u2019t no blues town<br \/>\nit\u2019s closer to the end of the line<\/p>\n<p>There will always be something about Tennessee<br \/>\nthat leaves a foul taste in my mouth<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Buckley and Townes Van Zandt died there<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bleach From A Dirty Glass<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The last of the rock stars<br \/>\nwatches his hourglass empty<br \/>\ngrain by grain<\/p>\n<p>Soon he\u2019ll be free to soar<br \/>\nlike a red-tailed hawk<br \/>\nover Cape Perpetua<\/p>\n<p>Suicide runs in the family,<br \/>\nbut there\u2019s nothing romantic<br \/>\nabout subterfuge<\/p>\n<p>Heroin chic is worn well<br \/>\nin Lake Washington<br \/>\nor so it seems<\/p>\n<p>Vipers pull the puppet strings<br \/>\nof breast and belly<br \/>\nuntil virtue labors<br \/>\nlike paper in fire<\/p>\n<p>An undertow of litanies<br \/>\nthreatens to go down<br \/>\nabout as smooth as bleach<br \/>\nfrom a dirty glass<\/p>\n<p>When the next version<br \/>\nof Sid meets Nancy,<br \/>\nblood money and shotgun shells<br \/>\nare sure to follow<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mixtape<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A punk rock girl<br \/>\nfrom the Virginias<br \/>\nand a Boston Catholic<br \/>\nshould have recoiled<br \/>\nlike oil and water<\/p>\n<p>This is where the story<br \/>\ntakes an unexpected twist<\/p>\n<p>We got married<br \/>\nthe year grunge broke,<br \/>\nbut I didn\u2019t care much<br \/>\nfor Nevermind<\/p>\n<p>Smells Like Teen Spirit<br \/>\ndoesn\u2019t sound so bad now<\/p>\n<p>We had five good years<br \/>\nwhich was four more<br \/>\nthan anyone thought we\u2019d get<\/p>\n<p>I can\u2019t help opening<br \/>\na drawer in the dresser<br \/>\nto breathe in the scent<br \/>\nfrom your favorite sweater<\/p>\n<p>Your desk sits untouched<br \/>\njust in case all of this<br \/>\nhas been one big mistake<\/p>\n<p>You left me a box<br \/>\nof mixed tapes<\/p>\n<p>Each one better than the last<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Michael N. Thompson likes bacon, fantasy football and Doctor Who. His poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including Word Riot, Toronto Quarterly and San Pedro River Review. He is the author of four poetry collections, the most recent being <strong>A Murder Of Crows<\/strong> (University Of Hell Press, 2014). His next collection, <strong>Days Of Swine And Roses<\/strong>, will also be released through University Of Hell Press in 2017.<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.michaelnthompson.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.michaelnthompson.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee Smyrna is one of those burgs where the kids dream of getting away from, but the tractor boys usually end up on a John Deere to match their caps and the cowgirls work the room at D\u00e9j\u00e0 Vu in Knoxville Murfreesboro houses failures who couldn\u2019t make the grade down on Music Row There are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":934,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2707","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Michael N. 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