Wednesday, September 14, 2016

waiting


by corinne delmonico

illustrations by konrad kraus






i was in the waiting room
of the dentists office

in heaven

there were other people there

pope alexander vi was there,
or maybe it was pope innocent iii or mark antony

billy graham was there
or maybe it was john dillinger or woodrow wilson

and blackbeard the pirate
or maybe it was genghis khan or david hume


charles darwin was there
or maybe erasmus darwin or lord palmerston

and florence nightingale
or maybe it was margaret mead or phyllis schlafly

there are a lot of people in heaven
it can be hard to tell them apart

anyway all these people
many of whom

had so much to say for themselves
on earth


had nothing to say
in the dentists office in heaven

and we all sat there silently
staring at our feet

or at the magazines on the table

finally

simone de beauvoir
or maybe madame chiang kai-shel

handed me the august 1937 issue of the national geographic

and asked
would you like to look at the august 1937 issue of the national geographic?



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