{"id":1258,"date":"2019-10-31T10:36:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T14:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/?page_id=1258"},"modified":"2019-10-31T11:01:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T15:01:00","slug":"t-j-mclemore","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/t-j-mclemore\/","title":{"rendered":"T.J. McLemore"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Reduced<\/h2>\n

Originally published in 32 Poems<\/em>.<\/h6>\n

 
\nThe same math that mounds up
\nthis thunderhead pins us down,<\/p>\n

peels back the stubborn veil
\nof the flesh\u2014but only what\u2019s shrouded<\/p>\n

in dark can be blinded
\nby light. Inside every body<\/p>\n

a hundred miles of miracle.
\nHeat lightning leaps the world\u2019s<\/p>\n

synapses out beyond the mountains.
\nA single bolt arcs up from<\/p>\n

the cedar\u2019s crown down the street
\nto meet a flash shattering<\/p>\n

its alien script across the sky.
\nA quick blackout of the senses,<\/p>\n

concentric blink, a cold shock
\nto wipe the insides blank.<\/p>\n

The forecast says rain for days.
\nSometimes the world is profligate,<\/p>\n

holding nothing back, renewing
\nthe passing wonder we are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ghost Particle<\/h2>\n

Originally published in Tupelo Quarterly<\/em>.<\/h6>\n

 
\nHow the light gives us shape and tears at us.
\nThis Polaroid ruined, streaked by stray rays and snow.
\nOr perfected: your one eye a coal, the other a star.
\nThe horse\u2019s fence a brushstroke of white, a blaze. Scarring his face.
\nThe exposure doubles: two horses, four, beside you.
\nYour hands everywhere on the animal, your face unresolved.<\/p>\n

Too many poses to reconcile.
\nToo many angles to consider from a single point in space.
\nSnow blindness is like that, a buildup of glare from all sides.
\nAnd the packed ice under us, which keeps nothing.
\nOr like the smallest particles that stream from the sun.
\nThey run us through and through, touching no part of us.
\n <\/p>\n

T. J. McLemore’s poems have appeared in New England Review, Crazyhorse, 32 Poems, Adroit Journal, SLICE, Massachusetts Review,<\/em> and other publications, and have been selected for the Best New Poets <\/em>anthology, featured on Poetry Daily<\/em>, and nominated for a Pushcart. McLemore has received awards and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers\u2019 Conference, Adroit Journal,<\/em>\u00a0Crab Orchard Review,\u00a0<\/em>and elsewhere. He is a doctoral student in English literature and environmental humanities at the University of Colorado Boulder.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Reduced Originally published in 32 Poems.   The same math that mounds up this thunderhead pins us down, peels back the stubborn veil of the flesh\u2014but only what\u2019s shrouded in dark can be blinded by light. Inside every body a hundred miles of miracle. Heat lightning leaps the world\u2019s synapses out beyond the mountains. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8422,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1267,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1258\/revisions\/1267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/236magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}