{"id":635,"date":"2026-07-13T10:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:54:16","slug":"the-needles-eye","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635","title":{"rendered":"The Needle’s Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Needle\u2019s Eye<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

On gracious paths<\/p>\n

of manicured towns the fair<\/p>\n

women with their smart hair<\/p>\n

and cultivated bodies, power-walk<\/p>\n

their biddable dogs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On verdant lawns<\/p>\n

toil the men, brown mostly,<\/p>\n

skin tattooed with soil,<\/p>\n

bodies durable but bent<\/p>\n

under the weight of how<\/p>\n

they spend their days<\/p>\n

and how their days spend them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Television Pastor Jesse once proclaimed<\/p>\n

he needed his humble flock to buy him<\/p>\n

a fifty-four million-dollar plane:<\/p>\n

If Jesus was alive today,<\/em><\/p>\n

he wouldn\u2019t be riding no donkey \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

think about that! —<\/em><\/p>\n

he\u2019d be flyin\u2019 all over the world<\/em><\/p>\n

and God means me to do just that!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think if Jesus, another brown man,<\/p>\n

were living now, he wouldn\u2019t be<\/p>\n

riding a plane.  He\u2019d be waiting<\/p>\n

wearily at a bus stop or standing,<\/p>\n

overlooked, at an interstate on-ramp,<\/p>\n

thumb out and passed by.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d be gaunt and shabby,<\/p>\n

bent by the weight of how<\/p>\n

he spends his days<\/p>\n

and how his days spend him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If Jesus walked those<\/p>\n

fortunate paths, he might<\/p>\n

nod to a smart woman and<\/p>\n

bestow upon her dog a smile<\/p>\n

but he would witness those<\/p>\n

toiling men.  He would<\/p>\n

walk up to them, bow his<\/p>\n

head and ask for the blessing<\/p>\n

of washing their feet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published in Matter II, Volume 1: Award-winning Poetry<\/em><\/strong>.  Oprelle Publications, August 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Needle\u2019s Eye   On gracious paths of manicured towns the fair women with their smart hair and cultivated bodies,[…]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-635","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Needle's Eye - Peacotoons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Needle's Eye - Peacotoons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Needle\u2019s Eye   On gracious paths of manicured towns the fair women with their smart hair and cultivated bodies,[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peacotoons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/\",\"name\":\"Peacotoons\",\"description\":\"Cartoon Art & Activist Attitude\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635\",\"name\":\"The Needle's Eye - Peacotoons\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-13T14:54:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T14:54:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Needle’s Eye\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Needle's Eye - Peacotoons","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:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Needle's Eye - Peacotoons","og_description":"The Needle\u2019s Eye   On gracious paths of manicured towns the fair women with their smart hair and cultivated bodies,[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635","og_site_name":"Peacotoons","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/","name":"Peacotoons","description":"Cartoon Art & Activist Attitude","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#webpage","url":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635","name":"The Needle's Eye - Peacotoons","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-07-13T14:54:16+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T14:54:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=635#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Needle’s Eye"}]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PaYpou-af","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/?page_id=462","url_meta":{"origin":635,"position":0},"title":"Poetry","date":"April 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In April 2022, my poem \u201cMorning in the YMCA Pool\u201d won honorable mention in the prestigious Tom Howard\/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, which garnered more than 4500 entries. I\u2019m proud to have my work recognized among this talented group of poets. That poem and some other favorites are posted below \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/","url_meta":{"origin":635,"position":1},"title":"Peaco Todd","date":"May 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"All over the country people are taking to the streets \u2013 protesting the brutal authoritarian regime of Donald Trump and his cronies and showing up for the bedrock values of our democracy: inclusion, respect for the rule of law and the Constitution, stewardship of our land.\u00a0 I have created a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacotoons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}