Jan. 28~ CANDICE KELSEY

Poetry fans, thanks for stopping by on this January day as we shine the spotlight on poetry by Pushcart-nominated poet, Candice Kelsey. You can read her poems:  Because We're Both Cowards, Divorce in Autumn, and To an Ex-Husband, below. Thank you, Candice, for sharing your words with SHINE international poetry series. 

Because We're Both Cowards

let’s exchange places.
I’ll sit in your car
and you’ll sit in mine.

I’ll live in your house
and work your job;
you’ll live in mine
and do what I do.

I’ll become you,
dressing and undressing.
You’ll become me,
waking and sleeping.

And when I am
alone with your wife,
I'll break the news
that I’m leaving;

you’ll do the same
some evening sitting
by my husband failing
to get his attention.

Divorce in Autumn

A spread of rain-soaked leaves,
sodden reminders
of better years,
twitch this way and that
across the raveling asphalt
like the runaway heat
rose in your cheeks
that time I said
what we both were thinking
but couldn’t sweep
into the plunging cold
of a gaslit marriage
long enough
for a solitary shape
to rake it all
into a tidy row of sturdy bags

To an Ex-Husband

I can’t forget
how you complained
about the great Dane
most nights
a bark like bowshot
the pair of you
dog and human
terrified
that each visitor
every Amazon delivery
car honk
skateboarder
was really your past
in disguise
stalking you outside
our marriage
that rickety fence
you half-heartedly hoped
would hold. ​

Candice M. Kelsey (she/her) is a bi-coastal writer and educator. Her work has received Pushcart and Best-of-the-Net nominations, and she is the author of eight books. Her work appears in Bust, The Rumpus, Painted Bride Quarterly, Poet Lore, SWWIM, and other journals. A reader for The Los Angeles Review and The Weight Journal, she also serves as an AWP Poetry Mentor.

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