BLOODY HELL, THINGS WILL GO WRONG keep going*,or, a meditation on writers block

when the way grows thick

slathered with flourishing diction and ideas

Of things you could’ve done

When this disconnects from your hand

So the child from the attic

Neglects giving you ideas

before the manuscript deadline

You circled in your calendar months before

When ur agent calls you

Seething

Over the deadline you and them

Put on paper

Keep writing

Put one letter in front

Of the other

Step on this cushy bed

Of diction

Keep pursuing

Your white whale

Be the Ahab

You wish to see

In the world.

Ollie Shane (he/they) is the author of the chapbook "I Do It So It Feels Like Hell" (Bottlecap Press, 2022). Their work has been published in Chill Subs, Bibliopunks Zine, and elsewhere.

*line from Swallowed by a Whale: How to Survive the Writing Life

Return to Issue 1 March 2023