{"id":22071,"date":"2013-08-27T06:30:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T18:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=22071"},"modified":"2013-08-25T16:00:25","modified_gmt":"2013-08-25T04:00:25","slug":"tuesday-poem-ordinary-boy-by-michelle-elvy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/08\/27\/tuesday-poem-ordinary-boy-by-michelle-elvy\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Poem: “Ordinary Boy” by Michelle Elvy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ordinary Boy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jersey (not Jozefow<\/em>), 2012 (not 1942<\/em>)<\/p>\n

When asked why he did it, the boy
\naverts his eyes, fidgets. He does not
\nlie, but he cannot face the truth.<\/p>\n

His lip trembles and he shakes
\nwhen shown the photos. When
\nasked to describe his role, he
\nemploys passive voice and
\ntalks about others:<\/p>\n

……………………………………..<\/span>I was told… They insisted\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

When pressed for an explanation,
\nhe refers to a chain of command:<\/p>\n

…………………………………….<\/em><\/span>I did what they said.<\/em><\/p>\n

He talks about the older boys,
\nthe way he wanted to belong, the way
\nhe went along.\u00a0 When asked if he
\npulled the trigger, he nods
\nand shrugs.<\/p>\n

When forced to talk about
\nwhat really happened in the woods,
\nhe cries at the memory \u2013<\/p>\n

……………………………………<\/em><\/span>the shallow grave,
\n……………………………………<\/em><\/span>the waste of life.<\/p>\n

He did not want to shoot
\nthe dog, you can tell. There is
\nno hate in his eyes, no fanatical
\nglint. He is not accustomed
\nto such cruelty.<\/p>\n

He is an ordinary boy.
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Michelle Elvy
\nReproduced here with permission<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

About The Poem:<\/h3>\n

I am currently featuring a series of poems for Tuesday themed around \u201cwar\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 — because I believe poetry often encapsulates the realism of war and has done so, in terms of modern poetry, for the past century. Today I am very pleased to feature “Ordinary Boy” by my fellow Tuesday poet, Michelle Elvy, a poem which presents Emily Dickinson’s\u00a0 ‘slant’ on the forces that give rise to the atrocities committed in war, but which are not necessarily restricted to them.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>About The Poet:<\/h3>\n

Michelle Elvy is a writer, editor and manuscript assessor. Besides being a member of the Tuesday Poem collective, she is founder\/ editor of\u00a0Flash Frontier: An Adventure in Short Fiction<\/a>,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and she also edits at\u00a0Blue Five Notebook<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. She chairs\u00a0National Flash Fiction Day<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and the International Flash Fiction Day Competition,\u00a0FLASH MOB<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Her work can be found in numerous journals and magazines. She is\u00a0currently finishing a collection of flash fiction stories set across the historical landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand, thanks to a research grant from the NZ Society of Authors\/ Auckland Museum Library.<\/p>\n

Michelle is based in the Bay of Islands but her latitude and longitude change regularly these days, as she lives on her sailboat and is presently in Fiji.\u00a0 More about Michelle’s editing and writing\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub<\/strong> and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here<\/strong><\/a> or on the Quill<\/strong> icon <\/strong>in the sidebar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ordinary Boy Jersey (not Jozefow), 2012 (not 1942) When asked why he did it, the boy averts his eyes, fidgets. He does not lie, but he cannot face the truth. His lip trembles and he shakes when shown the photos. When asked to describe his role, he employs passive voice and talks about others: ……………………………………..I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22071"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22093,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22071\/revisions\/22093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}