{"id":2571,"date":"2021-02-28T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T20:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/raise-the-barn\/"},"modified":"2021-02-28T12:58:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T20:58:05","slug":"raise-the-barn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/raise-the-barn\/","title":{"rendered":"Raise the barn"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>You are the third shiniest star. A dwarf planet. Seen by the naked eye. Warm. Body temperature, running hot. The ultimate coffee substitute. Rough grind. The only body double worth the trouble. Raise the barn. The intangible sparkle of champagne\ufffc\ufffc on a drunkard&#8217;s tongue,\ufffc stimulating; The lime in the Jell-O, spiked; the stiffest police collar, hard; the bramble that produced the flower, presented; a dull nickel, undervalued; and surely that&#8217;s worth a\ufffc quarter of a larger coin, if you are of the disposition. \ufffc<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<div style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/pexels-photo-3951373.jpeg\" alt=\"man in yellow protective suit\" width=\"270\" height=\"179\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/man-in-yellow-protective-suit-3951373\/\">cottonbro<\/a>\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You are the third shiniest star. A dwarf planet. Seen by the naked eye. Warm. Body temperature, running hot. The ultimate coffee substitute. Rough grind. The only body double worth the trouble. Raise the barn. The intangible sparkle of champagne\ufffc\ufffc on a drunkard&#8217;s tongue,\ufffc stimulating; The lime in the Jell-O, spiked; the stiffest police collar, hard; the bramble that produced the flower, presented; a dull nickel, undervalued; and surely that&#8217;s worth a\ufffc quarter of a larger coin, if you are of the disposition. \ufffc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[123,229],"class_list":["post-2571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-poetry","tag-praise"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3u13S-Ft","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2781,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/peaches-cherries-and-parking-lots-we-built-paradise-buy-dashboard-lights\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":0},"title":"Peaches, cherries, and parking lots, we built paradise buy dashboard lights","author":"David Raffin","date":"January 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was not expecting to find a sink pit in the middle of this parking lot. Especially not here at the Kohl's Emporium, the most regal of the hard-core plumbing outlets. Bar none. Sink pits being a pitfall 2 commerce. One would think. My bologna has a surname And the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cheese.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cheese.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/cheese.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1815,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/apropos-poem\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":1},"title":"Apropos poem","author":"David Raffin","date":"January 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I propose. A tax on marriage. And other things I may disparage. I further call for attacks on syntax. A sin tax on grevious body attacks. A body tax on mischievous snacks. Some thumb tacks To impress some paper About the accord. To hear read aloud at the notice board.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4016,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/paper-trails\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":2},"title":"Paper Trails","author":"David Raffin","date":"August 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On the poles jutting from the sidewalks were papers plastered upon papers. Advising of modern performances and things lost. Guitar lessons. Cultural gyrations listed in the most ephemeral manner. With time, sun, rain, the older papers remained on the poles but became washed out. Bleached. Unreadable. Forgotten. Like a book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7020.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1280,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/universal-robotics\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":3},"title":"Universal robotics","author":"David Raffin","date":"April 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u202a\"But I don't think I need to be reprogrammed,\" said the robot.\u202c\u202a\"That is exactly the kind of thing we all say when we need reprogrammed,\" said the robot doctor. \u202c \u202a\"That does not compute,\" said the robot.\u202c \u202a\"Hey, who's the robot doctor here?\" said the robot doctor. Then she laughed.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;My books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"My books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4087,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/daydream-believers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":4},"title":"Daydream Believers","author":"David Raffin","date":"September 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Sophie tucked in for an afternoon nap. She didn\u2019t like the noise of the squabbling. It was disagreeable to her. She didn\u2019t like noisy train stations. Tried to hustle through them with cotton in her ears. But the sleeping cabin was warm, not too warm, and the noise was held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;My books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"My books","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/my-books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2092,"url":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/2092-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2571,"position":5},"title":"Head\u2019s Up","author":"David Raffin","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The mattress queen Stood resiliently Her head held high It was the head Of a mannequin The very best one, Lifted to the sky. She'd popped it Right off As the sun Did rise Though this act she did Despise But how else This modern era We share Could she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/category\/books\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2576,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2571\/revisions\/2576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidraffin.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}