It’s Not All So Tragic – Alex Osman

October 16, 2023

I saw an albino named OJ order a sausage pizza
The same night I saw a woman sneak around a stable
To stab and kill a horse
The same week I saw a junkie in a blue parka
Shoot up outside the crab shack
He was on the nod and
Having trouble pulling down his sleeve
Shoes on my feet are getting old
Soles slipping out like dirty tongues
OJ’s shoes were brand new
Not a scuff
Like a clean freak

The woman who stabbed the horse
Covered head to toe in
Stallion blood
She stood sober in the motel lobby
Asking questions
Vacancy?
Outdated cameras?
Perverted surveillance?
Careless police uniforms on the way
She asked,
“What ever happened to
‘We the people’?”
OJ waded in a pool of laughter
“Let me tell you something about
‘We the people’
We the people who ain’t shit”

The blue parka junkie
Investigated the lobby trash cans
Full of the previous night’s
Mistakes and regrets
“Found a Fiver”
The woman who stabbed the horse
Covered head to toe in
Stallion blood
Brightened her complexion
“It’s like getting
Head in a haunted house
It’s not all so tragic”