He Was Going Somewhere Poem by David Welch

Jack and Oliver were identical twins,
born way out there in Nebraska's Sand Hills,
from the beginning everybody said Jack
was possessed of a remarkable will.

They said his small town would not contain him,
the country life was too small and too spare,
Jack would make a splash wherever he went,
that boy was really going somewhere.

Jack was an irrepressible sort,
he put on a show to all who would look on,
won the lead spot in every school play,
never missed his mark or got a line wrong.

Oliver though, was much more down to earth,
he thought all the dancing and singing silly,
tended to keep all his thoughts to himself,
felt no need to share his dreams freely.

Jack graduated, handsome and popular,
packed up his things and went off to L.A.,
Oliver only went down to Lincoln,
in agriculture he got solid grades.

In L.A. Jack auditioned for six months,
when he landed his first commercial deal,
that led to some parts in low-cost B-films,
where every scene he was in he did steal.

Meanwhile Oliver got himself a job
selling equipment to ranchers out there,
locals would compare him to his brother,
sigh, "It's a shame that he's going nowhere."

At twenty-four Jack was cast in a sit-com,
and was dating a singer, smoking hot,
within a year the show topped the ratings,
Jack and his young starlet tied the knot.

Oliver then dated a bartender,
she was cute, and at first kept things light,
he put off marriage, he had to save up,
had an idea for getting by in life.

And when Jack came home the people came out,
at the town's pride they would all stop and stare,
Oliver loved his brother, but halted folks
whispering, "At least that one went somewhere."

Yes, Jack went and rode the Hollywood train,
the next six year went by in a huge blur,
his sit-com was picked up for syndication,
he did four movies that paid high six-figures.

But gravity truly is a heartless bitch,
and Jack was caught up in a torrid affair,
the tabloids went nuts, ran page after page,
and his star wife…she was soon out of there.

Now Jack never shied away from drink,
but the scandal pushed it out-of-control,
half the time he was late for his shootings,
on the sit-com it would soon take a toll.

It managed to limp through one more season,
but in the ratings it soon poorly fared,
when it was cancelled the folks said, "Too bad,
but at least Jack managed to get somewhere."

Oliver had saved up the cash
to buy into his employer's franchise,
bought his own store, aggressively courted
every rancher in the countryside.

Soon enough the cash flow was well in the black,
so Oliver and the bartender wed,
bought their own house and were soon expecting,
he cared nothing for what the people said.

Jack, still drinking, played the Hollywood scene,
was a fixture of the wild nightlife,
soon he was in the tabloids again
when he knocked up a girl he knew one night.

He managed to keep working in film,
supporting roles were the best he could get,
with alimony and child support
he found himself slipping into the red.

When he crashed his car into his front door
he was quickly shuffled off to rehab,
in what would be the first trip of many,
the addiction had a grip on him bad.

But still he managed to get some work,
and when folks saw his face on the air,
they'd look at Oliver, mumbling how,
"That brother never went anywhere."

Now Hollywood is a hot-bed of rumors,
and a disturbing percentage are true,
soon tales spread of Jack's early acting days,
and all the things a new actor has to do.

Rumors of giving favors to producers,
insinuations of oral sex,
some said that was why her drank so damn much,
and why relationships left him vexed.

Whatever the case, on the internet,
the rumors became an ongoing meme,
his reputation thrown in the toilet
by GIFs and infographics obscene.

Oliver, back in fair Nebraska,
really had no reason to complain,
he had three kids and sold big equipment
to half the ranchers on the Sand Hills range.

Nobody was making memes out of him,
no reporters were snooping through his trash,
tabloids were not undermining his marriage,
and he was making more than enough cash.

He had six stores and a seventh coming,
and a hundred acres tied to his home,
a life or both family and friends sincere,
the general public did leave him alone.

The only thing that could worry Oliver
was what would happen to his brother Jack?
How many stars had walked down that same road,
and how many of them had never come back?

Though Jack's state would weight hard on his mind,
and hear feared to see him drowning in despair,
Oliver couldn't help but laugh at the folk
who thought it was he who was going nowhere.