Dear Third Coast Readers, it’s that time of year when students put on their graduation regalia and move from one side of the stage to another. In this graduation season, it is common for those undergoing big life changes to be full of questions.

What will the next few months look like? How long will I be in this new job? Can I pay off my student debt before I’m 80 years old?

This feeling of puzzlement is reflected in today’s selected prose poem, ‘April’ by Evan Nicholls. The staff at Third Coast wishes a heartfelt congratulations to those graduating in 2024.

— Logen Crandall, Editorial Intern

April

By Evan Nicholls

If I put on a boot, would a matching boot appear on the other foot? If I swallowed a diamond, would a crop
 of diamonds grow in the basin of me? If I ate a whole lamb, would my arms become legs of mutton? And if I
 listened to Simon and Garfunkel on loop, would my organs grow sprigs of parsley, sage, rosemary? Would my
 nose become a bundle of thyme? If I named my dog Art Garfunkel, would he grow the hairdo? If I passed
 away in my house, and no one found me for weeks, would Art Garfunkel use me for eating? Would I be dog
 food? If I did wrong, would an angel poof onto my left shoulder? If I prayed, would another one poof onto
 the right? And if I walked into a church, would I become the church? Would my fingers and toes turn into
 steeples? And if I opened the big church doors of my chest, would a bomb go off in me? If I were a school,
 would something go off in me? If I were a plane, would I be used as a plane?

Evan Nicholls is a poet and collage artist from the peach, fox, horse and wine country of Virginia. He is the author of Holy Smokes, a chapbook of poems and collages, and co-author of THERE HAS BEEN A MURDER, a micro-chap of poems co-written with Evan Williams and Benjamin Niespodziany. Both books are out from Ghost City Press. Evan is also a co-founding editor of Obliterat, a prose poem journal that blew up (as planned). Presently, Evan is working on two full-length collections of poetry, one of which is based on a 12th century English folktale. He currently lives outside of Washington, D.C. More of Evan’s work can be found at www.enicholls.com.