I’m not even sure this place has a name
there are no transplanted palm trees or
robot bar carts roaming the streets
hello?
a chill runs straight down my spine
though the air is warm
like Los Angeles — but this isn’t
there is no one here but me
yet I still call out for
Bill and John and Mike and Josh
a voice that is not my own
answers from somewhere in the cosmos:
No one is coming to save you.
They’ve all gone home.
They’ve all gone home.
They’ve all gone home.
Jacqueline Brown (b. 1988) is a native Chicagoan who now lives near bodies of water that, while large, are sadly not Lake Michigan. She is a Penn alumna and an enthusiastic Friend of Kelly Writers House. Her work can be found in numerous places.