All Souls

Purgatory is a waiting room, like
at the doctor’s office. Magazines
are creased and old, the address
cut off or blacked out. Faint music
blends with a disembodied ringing
of a phone and conversations too low

to make out a white noise. Flip
another page, look at recipes or
haircuts, hints on how to get grease
stains out of lace tablecloths, or
glossy ads for extra-large things:
vehicles, burgers, or adult diapers.

Look past faces of tired newcomers
through grey air, and focus on a beige
door covered with a poster about
seatbelts. Remember those souls
waiting for admission to heaven.
Buckle up, it says, to save lives.

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Carlene M. Gadapee

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Carlene M. Gadapee’s poetry and critical reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in many publications, including Waterwheel Review, Gyroscope Review, Smoky Quartz, Think, Allium, Vox Populi, and MicroLit Almanac. Carlene received a “Best of the Net” nomination in 2023. Her chapbook, What to Keep, will be released by Finishing Line Press in early 2025. Carlene lives in northern New Hampshire.

Find Carlene on Instagram.

• Carlene M. Gadapee

  Taking Down the Tree