Joseph (Pepe) Oulahan

CONTACT:
Email: pepe.oulahan@gmail.com

BIO:
Pepe has enjoyed poetry his entire life. Poetry, he claims, has always seemed to be "a close friend, confidant and occasional therapist". Born in Mexico City, Pepe spent much of his youth in Madrid Spain and currently lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Prior to retiring in 2022, Pepe was employed as a union representative, workforce development specialist and community organizer. During this time, he made a point of incorporating word-art into his work through songs, poetry and lyrical skits wherever possible.  

While always approaching poetry as a fan and hobbyist, his poems have appeared in the “Corrientes” and “Palabrero” series of collected poems published by the Que Pasa Café Poetry Group as well as in Verse Wisconsin and Blue Collar Review.

Poetry

Time Untethered

if this is to be
our time untethered
when storm and
songbird are left
to collide

then, also leave me
with a will
untethered
to stand on the sand
of time gone by

leave me to continue
to be
prone to giving
never mighty,
stubborn or sly

and to never give up
on the strength
of flowers, for
I have no desire
to see the real God cry

Left Astray

today like rain fell quiet and cold
again,
forging its way through dust-cloaked window
crack
to this moment unbalanced, where
we live
between heart beats
restlessly searching the sounds of the day
for one that does not wound, but is warm
enough to hold
finding none, “oh well” we say
and for an instant attempt to fool ourselves
into diets of sodium free thought
but it doesn’t work
anymore
than the scarecrow works
to save the cornfield from its autumnal sadness
and so we pause
once again begin counting droplets
as they fall
and with only our wet shadows watching
game birds take flight
and we are left astray

Previously published in Verse Wisconsin