Three Poems by Olin Wish
NICE THINGS
We want nice things
And will give our lives
Gladly for them
An inch at a time
A day at a time
In service of others – owners
Those we barely know
Who will never know us
Never – not an inch or a day
They will never know
These things we do
Hoping to one day
Be like them
Never hear the private pep talks
In the mirror before the
Day has even started
Asking, goading
What is it worth to you
Another day
Another inch
Another foot in the grave
In pursuit of nice things
GONE OR COMPLETELY ERASED
All the actors in it are gone
Or completely erased
That time when I was
Too dumb to realize
How good it was
Poorer than I’ve ever been
And richer than I am now
Love is free
And so is friendship
Maybe that’s what they
Meant about the best things
Happens all the time
To the insignificant fools
Who don’t deserve it
Stand there, years later
With their hand out
Remembering how it was
When that shadowy, dark-haired
Cur slinks past
Disappears across the railroad
Tracks and with it, youth
And all the actors who are gone
Or completely erased
THEY TOO OPT OUT
Plenty people have died
Under the watchful eye
Of a crucifix
God didn’t care then
So stop asking now
Your hunt and peck methodology
I’ve seen before
In my garden
In my garage –
A field mouse who has lost all fear
Of man makes a nest in a plastic shopping bag
The way those claws
Wordlessly knit – Yes, I’ve seen and
Heard your kind before
They too gave a shit
Kept a junk drawer full of instruction
Manuals to outdated appliances
They haven’t owned in ten years
They too opted for grape juice whenever possible
Over the real article
They too sighed the dust off the mouse turds
In the attic and breathed deep
They too opt out
And please don’t squeal when
The little nameless scurry out
Between bare feet
Dragging toothpicks they intend
To die upon –
Read me this bedtime story in broad daylight
And laugh with me into unconsciousness
Sort nuts from bolts
And put in empty prescription bottles and wait and say thank you
These poems were written under the pseudonym Olin Wish. Olin Wish wants a book deal real bad. He holds a day job that puts him in close proximity to the criminally insane instead. It might be rubbing off on him. Who knows? His favorite hobbies include, comic books, x-ray vision, and trying to avoid a violent stabbing death. Olin currently resides in West Virginia, but travels around a lot. He has an ex-wife and three children. So basically, he's living his best life. Aside from being lost in the woods, Olin is a regular contributor to Drunk Monkeys Literary Journal, Kleft Jaw, and Unfading Daydream, among others.
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