{"id":39400,"date":"2026-01-23T13:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=39400"},"modified":"2026-01-23T13:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:37:19","slug":"96-a-poem-by-bruce-bond-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/96-a-poem-by-bruce-bond-2\/","title":{"rendered":"96: A Poem by Willie James"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in Willow Springs 96<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a finalist in the 2025 Surrealist Prize<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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I Wanted a Little Candlelight in the Garden<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

For whole\u00a0seasons\u00a0each carrot\u2019s low wick
breached\u00a0the\u00a0buttoned\u00a0parka\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0earth.\u00a0Even
the dark steals from the dark, my spade\u00a0
digs,\u00a0rasping.\u00a0And\u00a0when\u00a0pitch\u00a0is\u00a0soon\u00a0sown,
folded and patted,\u00a0burned\u00a0and smoothed\u2014
my primary state is a boy still crowned\u00a0
with\u00a0the\u00a0eggshell\u00a0of\u00a0confusion.\u00a0Too\u00a0still\u00a0you\u00a0rest
no more than a turnip beneath.\u00a0
In the spring I am here waiting for the help of any magic
for\u00a0a\u00a0person\u00a0(a\u00a0friend?)\u00a0to\u00a0untuck\u00a0your\u00a0small\u00a0handkerchief
from any sleeve of earth. For maybe\u00a0
in\u00a0a\u00a0season\u00a0you\u00a0could\u00a0still\u00a0grow\u00a0
a hundred feet taller with everything
but\u00a0legs\u00a0to\u00a0join\u00a0me,\u00a0and\u00a0your\u00a0old\u00a0life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Willie James<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5678,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39401,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39400\/revisions\/39401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}