Yvette
Kristen E. Nelson

	To hold your hand today while all
those balloons let loose	in Wilson Woods. You know
but I wish I was while you let go.
	Yvette, I loved him. Do you remember
I chased him when I saw him flirt. Yvette, how he ran and how he was right to run
Yvette, I would have cut him that day.
	Yvette, sometimes he put on my dress
and danced	his big ol’ body in a dress.
	Yvette, he cried
when you pushed	your Momma down those steps.
Your brother his birthday balloon
	You know he talked about you, Yvette?
He talked about beautiful.	He talked about you would get out.
	Yvette, he got out, too. He got out.

KRISTEN E. NELSON (www.kristenenelson.com) writes poetry and cross-genre texts. She has recently published work in Tarpaulin Sky, Trickhouse, Cranky Literary Journal, Quarter After Eight, In Posse Review, and you are here. She is a founder and the Executive Director of Casa Libre en la Solana, a non-profit writing center in Tucson, Arizona; an editor for Trickhouse; and a production editor for Tarpaulin Sky Press. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Goddard College. 

:: ABOUT :: ISSUES :: SUBMISSIONS :: NEWS ::

ISSUE :: 3 ::

Chad Redden ::	Growing Up Baptist
Sherri Marilena Pauli ::	Translations in Rainstorms on Salt Flats
Megan Kennedy ::	Afraid
Jenni Lord ::	Five paintings
Steve Subrizi ::	Migrating to Portland
	Backstroke
Ben Segal ::	Tell It Again From Your Mouth
Russ Februaryy ::	I Put My Fingers In Your Eyes
Elizabeth Glixman ::	American Cats Are Overweight Studies Suggest
	Why Did Frankee Stein Become A Free Market Capitalist?
Nick Sturm ::	The Fences
	Three erasures
Andrew K. Peterson ::	Language, An Actress
	Steve McQueen’s Lines in The Blob
Rich Ives ::	Anatomy Lesson
Gabrielle DeMarre ::	Stan
Kristen E. Nelson ::	Song of Praise i. Him One
	Song of Praise ii. Him Two
	Song of Praise iii. Him Three
	Yvette
Acquanetta M. Sproule ::	A Nursery Rhyme

Homage to the Strange Spirits

Hannah Weiner ::

Excerpts from Astral Visions and Weeks