In Hell, Everyone Loves Tom Robbins

after Paisley Rekdal

And now I’m afraid to go to Hell because
I’ve never read a Tom Robbins novel before
and I don’t think I really want to start now, even
after I’m in Hell, but maybe that’s the point.
I’ll be assigned to a book club devoted to him
and I will have to host 7-10 strangers, every 
Wednesday night, serving warm sweet tea, 
all of them staring at me between sips, those
knowing eyes judging me as I try my best to
talk about how Tom (I’m sorry, Mr. Tom Robbins) 
used a pack of cigarettes to challenge the notion
of Milton’s perceived confinement of Hell, 
some sort of critique I missed because I never
put any stock in post-structural literary theory.

JUSTIN EVANS

Justin Evans lives in rural Nevada with his artist wife and sons and teaches at the local high school. He has twice received Individual Artist Grants from the Nevada Arts Council for his poetry.