The Literary Review of Canada

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This Poem was published in the June 2007 Issue

Several Women Booked an Appointment with God at the Same Time

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Priscila Uppal is a poet, short story writer, novelist and professor of humanities and English at York University. Her latest book of poetry, Ontological Necessities, was shortlisted for the 2007 Griffin Prize. Her work has been translated into several languages. At the moment, she is reading an advance copy of Barry Callaghan’s Between Trains, Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and many, many graduate essays.

It’s true. It happened.
And against all odds, all three
Arrived on time.
Forced to choose
Among them, he hid
Under the desk.
He held his breath.
The women waited.
They were not impatient.
Not after all the hassle
Just to get here.
In fact, they traded
Passports. Mugshots.
They sang a few tunes
From the Old Country.
They had such awful voices,
He couldn’t stand it.
Stop it, he cried.
For god’s sake, stop it.
One dropped her purse.
The other her handkerchief.
The third took up a collection.
God pulled the fire alarm.
After all, these were unforeseen
Circumstances.
Time to vacate.

Read more from the June 2007 Issue, including all related letters.