caffeine destiny
spring 2008

















Joe Gallagher

After graduation

The future folds up like a chinese take-out box:
I reheat what's inside, it gets worse everytime
But it's warm. And I'm hungry,
And think of all the starving children.


It's a Job

So don't complain. They will
Find a way to break open your century
To pour in a word: forget.
Write and sing
While you're stupid and young
And don't know the lyrics yet.

Joe Gallagher works for the Massachusetts Cultural Council as the Poetry Outreach Project Coordinator, helping to bring poetry to more people throughout the Commonwealth. He is also the poetry editor for Redivider, a journal of new literature published by Emerson College, where he is studying towards an MA in Publishing. His poetry has been previously published in small journals such as Fusion and Skylight. His company, Mushroom Cloud Press, publishes plays written by high school students.