1
Suddenly asked if I expect
to live beyond my death somehow
I say no as most people do
but I’ve heard that the pope has said
atheists can go to heaven
2
The chicken noodle soup
had turned to a green mush
in the can
which was gross till I saw
I had opened a can
of split pea
3
This time of year, she said,
you can tell the people
with small children. We talk
of witches, masks, cobwebs,
carving eyes in pumpkins.
Others need a moment.
4
When I returned in hope to the supermarket
a woman held up a manila envelope
she knew I had forgotten in my shopping cart
because she and I had been through this already
several times.
You can leave an envelope containing poems
and no one will ever take it, I told someone,
who said that leaving poems in supermarkets
could not be looked on as an effective way to
distribute them.
G.B. Ryan was born in Ireland and graduated from University College Dublin. He is a ghostwriter in New York City. Elkhound published his SURPRISED BY GULLS in May 2015.