Olympia restaurant

by Michael Casey

here with a high school

friend Panos

and the restaurant is

in the Greek

neighborhood

in Lowell and in a far

corner are two elderly ladies

Panos excuses himself

and goes to say hello

to these homegirls

and the ladies

eventually recognize

him

as Soc’s son   Peter

and these ladies are

positively

effusively gaga over

meeting Peter

after so many  years

he returns to the table

and I say   trying to be

facetious

it’s clear it’s not

every day those ladies

meet a son of Socrates

and Peter’s blasé about

it

not one that buys them

lunch anyway

© 2026 by Michael Casey

Michael Casey, right, being interviewed by Doug Holder, Somerville Cable TV, 2018

The author of several collections of poetry including There It Is: New & Selected Poems, Mill Rat, and the award-winning Obscenities (drawn from his military service in the Vietnam War era), Michael Casey grew up in Lowell and is a distinguished alumnus of the public high school. A graduate of Lowell Technological Institute in physics, he earned a master’s degree in creative writing at SUNY Buffalo, now the State University of Buffalo in NY. He lives in Andover, Mass.