Written by James B. Nicola
A? or B? | Photograph by Neha M. Sampat
And home-cooked meals help get you into heaven? Having changed your name to your husband’s, too? What about his changing his to yours? Is heaven largely free of husbands, then?
And the lighter your skin, the better your chances? Wow. And worldly wealth helps, too? You think heaven’s a racist, sexist place with class and caste? I thought we leave our skin and bones behind. I thought we leave our worldly wealth behind. You mean you can take it with you after all?
That explains why, still in your skin and bones, you are the kind of person that you are. But what about the person who is kind?
Oh, by the way, thanks for the casserole. It was delicious. I sure hope it helps.
.
James B. Nicola‘s nonfiction book Playing the Audience won a Choice magazine award. Recent nonfiction can be found online at About Place, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, Unlikely Stories, and Lowestoft Chronicle; fiction, at Neither Fish Nor Foul, The GroundUp, and Sine Qua Non. The latest of his eight full-length poetry collections are Fires of Heaven, Turns & Twists, and Natural Tendencies. A graduate of Yale, he has received a Dana Literary Award, two Willow Review awards, a Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award nomination, and eleven Pushcart nominations—for which he feels both stunned and grateful.