{"id":1642,"date":"2021-12-10T19:59:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T19:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/?p=1642"},"modified":"2023-06-24T01:31:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T01:31:05","slug":"firstly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/2021\/12\/10\/firstly\/","title":{"rendered":"Firstly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Featured in the 2021 Winter Issue of Rambunctious<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">Firstly\nPaloma Arena, '25\n\nDear Readers, \n\nWhat\u2019s your favorite book? \nYou can\u2019t pick, can you? \nThere\u2019s a pit opening up in your stomach, \nSwallowing your choices \nBetray, or be betrayed \n\nCharacters swirling and \nGrasping and reaching \nTo be picked \nHundreds of thousands of personalities \nClawing at the crevices of your thoughts \n\nIt\u2019s not a matter of which book, though \nIt\u2019s a matter of which person \nWho are you going to be? \nToday, to this person, forever maybe \nChoose wisely \n\nAnd remember, whatever you say \nWill leave you thinking about it all day \nAre you willing to go back \nAnd be devoured by \na world you can\u2019t leave? \n\nSo, what\u2019s your favorite book? \nOr, should I say, who are you today? \nOr maybe the question should be, what reality are you in now?\nPerhaps I should ask you why?\n \nThat\u2019s a good one, no? \nWhy? \nWhat made you pick up a book for the first time? \nWas it an assignment? \nWas it a road trip? \n\nWhat was that spark? \nThat little flame that exploded into life \nThat grew and grew and grew... \nConsuming you desperately\nUntil all that was left was the next book\n \nWhere did the, dare I say, \nAddiction \nStart? \nWhat a question to ask \nTo a reader \n\nI\u2019m sure you don\u2019t know the answer \nI don\u2019t, probably won\u2019t ever \nBut that\u2019s not so important \nIs it \nIs it? \n\nI suppose the important thing \nis how you got so good \nAt escaping \nEscaping to a fantasy \nTeach me sometime, yeah? \n\nOne moment you\u2019re here \nAnd the next the rest of us don\u2019t exist \nAnd don\u2019t get me wrong, I do it too \nBut there\u2019s something about the way you do it \nIt\u2019s intoxicating \n\nThose realities are real to you \nWe can\u2019t convince you otherwise \nMaybe you\u2019re onto something \nBut that\u2019s besides the point \nThe point is you\u2019re good at what you do \n\nAnd I think it\u2019s the best thing in the world\nWhen you watch someone escape \nIt\u2019s like the air is filled with glitter \nAnd you can\u2019t help but sigh and smile \nAnd let the sugary air seep into your soul \n\nBut anyway \nOne day maybe \nJust maybe \nI\u2019ll be able to create a world like that \nA world that saves you from reality\nBut alas, I\u2019ve reached the end of my thoughts \nOf the time I have with you \nI hope one day, you find a world you never want to leave \nEver, ever, ever \n\nSincerely, \nA Writer<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paloma Arena, &#8217;25<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"full-width-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1642"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1642\/revisions\/2309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jdlitmag.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}