Close-outs are really just sales.
I know this from looking at the items.
Some are successes, most are fails.

Close-out really means “selling off stock”.
As in, we won’t make any more of these.
They’re on the chopping block

Sometimes, however, these items
Have your name imprinted.
They’re called personalized items.

This seems just a bit far-fetched.
There is a plant somewhere in China,
Making items with “Kevin Gilhooly” etched.

“Maybe it’s today he’ll finally call”,
All the Chinese workers silently pray,
“He’ll go online or visit at the mall.”

I hope they’re not making pencils just for me,
Hundreds of them inscribed with my name,
In a huge factory across the sea.

That’s what a close-out would be,
“We’re not printing “Kevin Gilhooly” any more,
All the pencils we have is all we foresee“.

I hope that someone shares my name,
There was one in Houston years ago,
So maybe there’s another Kevin once again.

Then, the pencils are his problem.