{"id":7860,"date":"2018-03-18T01:49:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T07:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=7860"},"modified":"2018-03-18T15:20:43","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T21:20:43","slug":"the-stenographer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=7860","title":{"rendered":"The Stenographer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Alec Hershman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now we know what he meant by <em>lacquer<\/em><br \/>\nthe bark of the finest birch proposes,<br \/>\nshining off a storm.<br \/>\nLike bit players with their single lines,<br \/>\nthe trees call out to her. Their lofty stage whispers<br \/>\nare contemptible, are not to be acknowledged,<br \/>\nall the way to work.<\/p>\n<p>At the courthouse, the jurors adjourn for lunch,<br \/>\ntheir name tags flipping on the windy steps.<br \/>\nTheir talk is light,<br \/>\nand scatters like kibble.<br \/>\nShe shuts a nostril to the steam<br \/>\nthat rises from a grate.<br \/>\nIt is courtroom air, quiet and exact<br \/>\nthat follows her down hallways<br \/>\nto the office where she types. At her knee,<br \/>\na chill no larger than a leaf hovers.<br \/>\nEverything chattering<br \/>\nfor transcription, lifting at the chance<br \/>\nto be immortal. She thinks, <em>one at a time, <\/em><br \/>\n<em>please &#8212; <\/em>then rolls her chair<br \/>\ntight against the desk, and wishes<br \/>\nfor something unwavering,<br \/>\nlike courtesy.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALEC HERSHMAN<\/strong> is the author of <em>The Egg Goes Under<\/em> (Seven Kitchens Press, 2017). He has received awards from the KHN Center for the Arts, The Jentel Foundation, Playa, The Virginia Creative Center for the Arts, and The Institute for Sustainable Living, Art, and Natural Design. He lives in Michigan where he teaches writing and literature to college students. You can learn more at <a href=\"https:\/\/alechershmanpoetry.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">alechershmanpoetry.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alec Hershman &nbsp; &nbsp; Now we know what he meant by lacquer the bark of the finest birch proposes, shining off a storm. Like bit players with their single lines, the trees call out to her. Their lofty stage whispers &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/?page_id=7860\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":7858,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7860","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P15duy-22M","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7866,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7860\/revisions\/7866"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jerseydevilpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}