by Ollie Shane
This poem goes out to those bored in infinite zoom meetings
Putting down a half formed sonnet to fill the void where notes of summation should be
All the writers
You think you can find us at coffee shops
Sipping some 5 dollar concoction
Pausing at self-defined
Times to get the most
Eyeballs on your work
You think you can gaze into
Our abysses at readings
Regardless of how short or long our poems
Are
You just want to pull a ursula and steal our voice
this poem goes out to those in the glittering world of the literati
They float in circles like a dead fish
This poem goes out to those working two jobs just to make rent
Always tired but holding out hope that their manuscript gets accepted
This poem goes out to those bored in infinite zoom meetings
Putting down a half formed sonnet to fill the void where notes of summation should be
And them finding a mystic key in the midst of printed words
This poem goes out to the poet’s family
Confused but well-meaning allies to the poets chaos
This poem goes out to the ones i love
Like the rem song, always there
To keep me sane amidst the end of the world as we know it.
freak
I
limp wristed
like linguini
carrying iced coffee
like a baby
when you see them, the bass and speakers
They
Pulse, their own queer beat
In the club where my kin meet
trade reads, trades
beefy baseball cards
With their own rewards
I
Shy away from displays of affection
The bass and speakers
Make me scream:remnants of the ward
In my subconscious
I
Prefer my artists queer
Those deemed too much
For the mainstream
Too rare to live free
From the gears of society
Too weird to exist
w/out the cishet gaze
On their ars poetica
I
Love to watch them
Dip, rant and rave
Freaks in solidarity
With comrades like us
Who needs cishets?
© Ollie Shane
Ollie Shane (he/they) is the author of the chapbook I Do It So It Feels Like Hell (Bottlecap Press, 2022). His work has been published or is forthcoming in Palindrome Journal, Chill Subs, and elsewhere. To see more of their work, you can follow them on Chill Subs under Ollie Shane (and see their musings on poetry) or on Instagram at @aolshane.
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