{"id":16594,"date":"2011-08-25T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=16594"},"modified":"2011-08-24T17:41:37","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T21:41:37","slug":"poem-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/","title":{"rendered":"Poem: Episode"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19972\" style=\"width: 584px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19972\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19972\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"574\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg 574w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht-300x195.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/em><p id=\"caption-attachment-19972\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jennifer Michael Hecht.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it evokes the light mantle of head-clouded shame that follows too much bourbon or rum; its wrapping, self-analyzing lines convey the cloudiness and the strange clarity that come the day after drinking too much. Who hasn\u2019t vowed that \u201cnothing that ever happened\/ will happen again?\u201d<\/em> \u2014Meghan O\u2019Rourke<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>EPISODE<\/p>\n<p>Too much to drink last night and now<br \/> the symbol claps of shame in August.<br \/> Had I been wine-wise, I\u2019d<br \/> have been at work for hours by now,<br \/> but no.  Television is more relieving<br \/> than I\u2019d guessed, I watched a show<br \/> I\u2019d never seen before because I tend<br \/> from terrors on the molestation line.<br \/> It was easier to take than TV news<br \/> whose theme today is also how someone<br \/> who had once been a girl had been<br \/> abused.  Outside the sky is blue<br \/> and bright white clouds remind me<br \/> that the other news has been wildfires<br \/> in California, with pyrocumulus<br \/> soot clouds rising white in the blue sky.<br \/> This shame of too much drink is<br \/> shockingly tenacious.  I tell myself<br \/> it is no crime to be seen in cups now<br \/> and again, but find I can&#8217;t<br \/> be disabused.  I hold it all against me.<\/p>\n<p>There must be water in these clouds<br \/> though, and freedom here, and nothing<br \/> that ever happened will happen again.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Jennifer Michael Hecht is the author of three history books and two volumes of poetry. Her most recent book is <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Happiness-Myth-Historical-Antidote-Working\/dp\/B002ECEHWO\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1314221624&amp;sr=8-1\">The Happiness Myth<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it evokes the light mantle of head-clouded shame that follows too much bourbon or rum; its wrapping, self-analyzing lines convey the cloudiness and the strange clarity that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":188,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[498],"tags":[2490,279,165],"class_list":["post-16594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-2","tag-jennifer-michael-hecht","tag-meghan-orourke","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"574\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2abef04b15cdf16f1d8021a5fe787eb\"},\"headline\":\"Poem: Episode\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\"},\"wordCount\":281,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\",\"Meghan O'Rourke\",\"poetry\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Poetry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\",\"name\":\"Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Poem: Episode\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2abef04b15cdf16f1d8021a5fe787eb\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b57dd277efe88b6bccd62d35d234742e49ff75668ce5580c93897c1c2425ebeb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b57dd277efe88b6bccd62d35d234742e49ff75668ce5580c93897c1c2425ebeb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Michael Hecht\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jennifer-michael-hecht\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht","description":"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht","og_description":"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":574,"height":375,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jennifer Michael Hecht","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Michael Hecht","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/"},"author":{"name":"Jennifer Michael Hecht","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2abef04b15cdf16f1d8021a5fe787eb"},"headline":"Poem: Episode","datePublished":"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/"},"wordCount":281,"commentCount":10,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg","keywords":["Jennifer Michael Hecht","Meghan O'Rourke","poetry"],"articleSection":["Poetry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/","name":"Poem: Episode by Jennifer Michael Hecht","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg","datePublished":"2011-08-25T12:00:34+00:00","description":"August 25, 2011 \u2013 It\u2019s Thursday, as good a day as any for an incisive and surprising poem by Jennifer Michael Hecht about a hangover. We liked it because of the way it","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Hecht.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/25\/poem-episode\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Poem: Episode"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2abef04b15cdf16f1d8021a5fe787eb","name":"Jennifer Michael Hecht","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b57dd277efe88b6bccd62d35d234742e49ff75668ce5580c93897c1c2425ebeb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b57dd277efe88b6bccd62d35d234742e49ff75668ce5580c93897c1c2425ebeb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Michael Hecht"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jennifer-michael-hecht\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/188"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16594"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19982,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16594\/revisions\/19982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}