by Ezra Olson
Bastard's Song
I’m the bastard son of a bastard son,
No castle, servant, master, none,
No woman, child, daughter, son,
But you’ve never seen a faster gun
Than this bastard bastard’s bastard son.
Gay Poem
Go on and be beautiful,
see what I care, as if
I don’t have beauty
at home. It was never
meant to mean
anything, it was
just something you
came across, on a walk
most likely, looking up
and bumping into
things and suddenly
it would happen to you
suddenly you would be
beautiful too but you don’t
need to hammer
your own jaw if
you can just take
a few to the chin
but even then it’s
not even really about
being tough it’s just that
beauty is not enough.
Psalm
I am threatened, menaced,
with death and destruction,
capture, confinement, rendition—
banishment and ostracization,
lies and humiliation,
illness, starvation
and pain—
I am watched and entrapped, broke
and blacklisted, listed, on lists, I’m on
lists on lists on lists because
they wish that I would
slit my own wrists.
I face back to back to
back to back L’s
and all that they get
is me higher than hell.
God knows my sins
and blots them all out.
It’s been a long time
since I’ve felt any doubt.
For I’m righteous and favored,
beloved by God,
seeking the good
for the weak and downtrod.
God is your shield
when you stand in God’s ranks.
To God above all
will I ever give thanks.
****
Ezra Olson is an employed person who occasionally DJs as ZER0 L0AN$ aka @milwaukeetraphouse . Expanded digital edition of his hit chapbook zine A GOOD POEM AND OTHER POEMS coming soon.