{"id":733,"date":"2011-05-24T16:39:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-24T16:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=733"},"modified":"2011-05-25T01:05:01","modified_gmt":"2011-05-25T01:05:01","slug":"michael-constantine-mcconnell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2011\/05\/michael-constantine-mcconnell\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Constantine McConnell"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Alleys”<\/strong> by Michael Constantine McConnell, which appears on page 140 of Solace in So Many Words<\/em><\/strong>, is filled with compelling characters so when I heard there were other published pieces on this family, I immediately read them, and wanted to share them. \u00a0“King of the Gypsies” appeared in Blood & Honey Review<\/a><\/em> and “Field Trip” was published in The Cleveland Review<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here, Michael shares “Elegy for Gus,”which was originally published in Conte<\/a><\/em>— it is a sestina combining several prose memoirs that the chronicle the fall of a great city and a great family.<\/p>\n

Michael is a writing teacher by day, musician and singer in raucous Scotch-Irish bands by night. \u00a0Born and raised in Detroit, he currently lives, loves, and plays in the awesome city of Denton, TX.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Elegy for Gus<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJesus Christ, Mary,\u201d my grandfather screamed,
\ndrunk but not much numb. \u201cI can\u2019t take the pain
\nanymore.\u201d He called Grandma a whore
\nand sent her for pliers. \u201cIf that bastard
\ndentist can do it, so can I.\u201d I heard
\nhis tooth\u2019s root, rotting in pulp, splinter<\/p>\n

free. Light tripped through stained glass and splintered
\nblue gloss across the floor\u2019s wood slats. Gus screamed,
\ncursed, spit blood through his fingers, and heard
\nthe children\u2019s wide-eyed silence. His dull pangs
\nhung over through the evening. \u201cPoor bastard,\u201d
\nI thought, years after, when he died a whore\u2019s<\/p>\n

death: alone, regretting. He once yelled, \u201cwhore,\u201d
\ntaunting Grandma with a wrench. Floor splintered
\ninto my foot when I ran. \u201cIf that bastard
\nhurts her, we\u2019ll kill him,\u201d we whinnied and screamed.
\nThe hollow walls whispered our singing pain
\nuntil, like moon hoar at night, we heard<\/p>\n

a calm ceasure. Next mornings, I\u2019d always hear
\nbirds chirp, brilliant colors, the cats whoring.
\nMy grandmother would bake cakes with pains-
\ntaking decor. I still taste cream splintered
\nin fudge sponge. Once, after my bald hands screamed
\nthrough gravel, she salved the bastard<\/p>\n

wounds and, to comfort me, sang: … God\u2019s bastard
\nshed man love with his lust to be heard …
\nHe could not help but to scream;
\nhis god\u2019s hands nailed him to boards and hoarded
\nhis beaten shell. Blood ribbed the splintered
\nback after his awareness fled the same pain-<\/p>\n

filled world that was Grandma\u2019s solitary bane.
\nBy evenings, she\u2019d pray: \u201cPlease keep the bastard
\nsober.\u201d Grandmother\u2019s faith and heart splintered
\ntoward two men \u2013 one dead and one dying. I heard
\nGus\u2019s last words to his nurse. \u201cYou whore,
\nbump my bad leg more, I\u2019ll kill you,\u201d he screamed,<\/p>\n

shifting the pain. Moments later, I heard
\nhis breaths and bastard self-pity cease. No hordes
\nmourned in silence once splintered by his screams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Alleys” by Michael Constantine McConnell, which appears on page 140 of Solace in So Many Words, is filled with compelling characters so when I heard there were other published pieces on this family, I immediately read them, and wanted to share them. \u00a0“King of the Gypsies” appeared in Blood & Honey Review and “Field Trip” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[285,286,284,200,282,288,287,197,13,7,16,283,198,289],"class_list":{"0":"post-733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-guest-posts","7":"tag-alleys","8":"tag-elegy-for-gus","9":"tag-field-trip","10":"tag-blood-honey-review","11":"tag-conte","12":"tag-denton","13":"tag-detroit","14":"tag-michael-constantine-mcconnell","15":"tag-poetry","16":"tag-solace","17":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","18":"tag-the-cleveland-review","19":"tag-the-jakeys","20":"tag-tx","21":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}