like I had died, like it was
my ghost
speaking to him.
Who was I
to say it wasn’t.
Who was I to say
I was alive.
I told him the afterlife is good
free trains always running
on time, noodle shops
and plenty of mangoes.
He said, okay, good night
I’m so glad I called.
[+]
Kelly Nelson is the author of the forthcoming
chapbook Rivers I Don’t Live By, winner of
the 2013 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Award.
She also has work forthcoming in I-70
Review, Another Chicago Magazine,
NonBinary Review and Bluestem. She
has lived without a car for the past
14 years in metro Phoenix and is
currently editing an anthology of car-free
poetry: poems in which people walk, bike, ride
a train, subway or bus to get around.
She volunteers as an art gallery docent
and teaches Interdisciplinary Studies at
Arizona State University.
