The Stage (for Vice-President-Elect Pence)

Watching an actor

on the boards

for the hoards

is a challenge

to brains that are tame

More often than not

the words and the movement

send a shot of improvement

to someone who's not part

of the plot

If going to the theater

is just to sit back

for nothing to happen inside

it's a waste of space

that playwrights confide

someone in the audience

is slack

Next time the lights

fill a stage with delight

go deeper

than smiles and bone

Let actors and words

sink into your skull

to spark some thought

in a neuron

Barry G. Wick

Simulation

I am a computer simulation

written by a student

of programming

in a civilization

that sends bots

to check on our progress

They appear as UFOs

As a simulation

I have to examine

the life given to me

inside a machine

as it relates

to the student

who created me

I failed in math

and had no interest

in numbers

I failed in business

I failed as a pianist

I failed in so many

ways that I'm certain

the student who wrote me

failed the course

And yet I keep running

to keep failing

in the corners of the computer

that hasn't been cleared

of the projects

of the last class

I've even failed as a poet

In my next incarnation

I shall choose

a student who is smarter

at least enough

to get a passing grade

Will someone please

drag me to the trash

Barry G. Wick

The Doors of Nevermore

We know where she was born

We know where she died

beyond that

we're not able to write

an obituary for the newspaper

and what does it matter anyway

that we don't know what she did

what flowers she liked

her favorite walks

with whom she loved

She had no children

No one came to visit

when she went to the nursing home

Her life is a blank

since all her papers were burned

by those who cleaned

the room where she lived

Does anyone remember

Does anyone care

So now a simple grave

on the South Dakota prairie

in a simple wooden box

in the flowered dress she wore

rolling in the wheel chair

through the doors

of nevermore.

Barry G. Wick