the forgotten coast
the forgotten coast
by Oswald James
the forgotten coast
where no one vacations
the real estate’s affordable
the children are all vandals
there’s a small city
a bar on the second floor
of every supermarket
everyone drinks all day
no one walks at night
except the children
who mumble and laugh
under their breath
toting wrenches around abandoned
neighborhoods
when i ask people if they’ve heard of this place
most pretend they haven’t
This sends eerie shivers down my spine. It’s almost like the children have been transformed into zombies…twisted into soulless adults and robbed of their youthful spirit…imbued with the kind pragmatic will to live where they’ll never see the light of day. Maybe i’m reading too much into it.
I particularly loved the ending where people pretend not to’ve heard of this place. Best to forget and not think about it. thx for sharing!
Some people have developed a style of writing that when you read a poem you know exactly who wrote it even before or after you’ve read who it is by. Oswald does this. I like that. It’s like a channel or a record label who is known for producing a certain sound. That’s ever more rare, but luckily H&H has a great deal of writers who have slowly developed their own “voice” over time.
Great poem.
i think he had a wacky one on the desert a long time ago that blew my mind. Appreciated his guest editorship last year as well. Or was it the year before? where’s my mind? lol.