R u s t y  T.  R u s s e l l

Gulf Island 3

I can’t talk to you right now

because I’m writing a novel.

It began just like this.

Then the boy tried to find the phone number

of the only pharmacy in town

that wasn’t listed.

It took hours and was all in the past tense

right up to here.

I know something else has to happen in a novel

and maybe you would suggest something

you’d like to see if I stopped to talk to you.

But I keep thinking about that little boy.

I know he should not be me

in a proper story, but he was.

He isn’t even a boy.