“Antelife” by Dan Mabee
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Antelife
Death smells the freshest at two in the afternoon,
just after the embalming, when you can still see
the wet glistening on the skin, like a newborn baby
still slippery in the afterbirth.
On the other side of breathing there is a place where
the dead are expected and anticipated just as a mother
looks anxiously for the day when she can take her baby from
the ante-life.
This piece was published in 2023 as part of the 12th Annual Mormon Lit Blitz by the Mormon Lit Lab. Sign up for our newsletter for future updates.