“Pegs, Fitting The Meaning Of Landscape” and “The Word Lab”

By Maurice Oliver

Pegs, Fitting The Meaning Of Landscape

Says to himself.
   
So he takes his arms and pushes the world around, then
orders a cup of coffee while he waits for the results:
   
-A nightstand suddenly suffered from insomnia.
   
-Wind knocks the heads of flowers together.
   
-Modern science develops a way to freeze-dry kisses.
   
-Fire wood learns how to cut itself every winter.
   
-The squeaky wheel of hospital gurneys gets greased.
   
-Corridors in government buildings look waxed in any light.
   
-A cheaper sugar is derived from citizen cane.
   
-An ordinary maid creates self-cleaning bed linen.
   
-A top-hat is pulled from a rabbit.
   
-Today's grand prize is unanimously placed behind door #2.
   
   
The Word Lab
   
The ad agency herds us all into a sterile room and tells us to
   
write one paragraph that describes the meaning of infatuation.
   
I immediately scribble something to the effect of sunshine and
   
and a beach with powdered white sand and a sea so clear you
   
can see to the other side of world. It's a place where nothing is
   
artificial and broken hearts have not yet be invented. The love
   
handles are all made of real wood and when you open the door
   
there's this glorious room full with pillowed romantic nonsense.
   
Oh yeah, and I end the paragraph by adding that there's a jukebox
   
of silly love songs and rolls of quarters intended to be used freely.

After almost a decade of working as a freelance photographer in Europe, Maurice Oliver returned to America in 1990. Then, in 1995, he made a life-long dream reality by traveling around the world for eight months. But instead of taking pictures, he recorded the experience in a journal which eventually became poems. And so began his desire to be a poet. His poetry has appeared in numerous national and international publications 
and literary websites including Potomac Journal, Pebble Lake Review, Taj Mahal Review (India), Dandelion Magazine (Canada), Stride Magazine (UK), and online at thievesjargon.com, interpoetry.com (UK), kritya.com (India), and blueprintreview.de (Germany). His third chapbook, "But Mostly, Simple Precautions," was published by LilyLit Press in Nov. 2006. He is the proud editor of a new e-zine called Concelebratory Shoehorn Review (www.concelebratory.blogspot.com ). He lives in Portland, Oregon, where he dreams of icebergs while working as a private tutor.