Medical Shine

Medical Shine

The days speed up

agreed to by my pillbox

full pockets of time

and time-released

joy and sorrow

it dispenses daily

as if some lead-footed driver

moonlighted as a dealer

modern moonshine

that rushes on the highways

which creates this new sport

for the masses at racetracks

Hopped-up vans 

with delivery drivers 

who toss secret packages

to the aged and infirm fans

as they round the track

at broken back speeds

full of those little rainbow

enticements to feel better

feel good or feel normal

delivered to the pharmacy

No need for hidden tanks

No worries for revenuers 

waiting in the dark 

No moonless shootouts

in the deep mountain hollows

shouting epithets 

from behind the trees 

I watch the cheering thousands 

from the stands

waiting for their meds

the tiny miracle cures

promised by great pharma

who live gloriously behind

legality guaranteed 

by government

cheated for the pleasure

of fat kittens of industry

their yachts swaying

in warm waters

Barry G. Wick

February Loss (for Kelly)

February Loss (for Kelly)

February loss hangs

in mid-air

It refuses to fly on

A frozen kestral

Which thinks of voles

Asleep in their grass beds

Deep beneath the frost

I yawn with them

In dark hours

To pass long nights

With little to calm my

Thoughts of this month

That took a friend

Who gave me

Ripples of memory

To long passed days

When his love held me

In his arms

Those endless nights

I want back

His life now flies

Frozen in my mind

As warm as ever

Barry G Wick

The Vacant Hills

The Vacant Hills

Too often dream hauls me back

in it's old yellow truck sold

to someone who will fix it

It sat outside the house until

rust became an issue or

the battery failed to spark

Somewhere beneath me are farms

from the distant past with corn

never to poke their giant stalks

toward the sun they love

The land rolls unlike the steep

rock-covered crags over us then

We shoot imaginary antelope

at the park fifty years ago

on a license of special qualities

after we crawled over a mound

that shielded us with high grass

only to Winchester it dead

Then there is the pine tree

when the bark gets pulled

with young hands on the way

to an old school over the hill

behind the rock through sand

that blows down in south winds

The rain could be seen coming

one range after another blocked

by sheets of drenching summer

lighting striking the west side

seen from the redwood deck

on the home left behind

All this disappears and more

as people forced idyllic places

into hatred and discrimination

crating humanity inside law

written from their ancient books

that ends youthful dreams in fear

Barry G. Wick