No Obligations
Julianne Neely
Momma would May Swenson
like me would we
break lines over whiskey
talk iconography while rolling
cigarettes Momma
would Sylvia
Plath bite my ear
whisper funnies about Ted’s
performance stamina in bed
would we laugh hell
Momma would I save
her from the smoke
Momma please tell me
Momma would Elizabeth Bishop
fuck me see me
really see me more
than muse with truth
eternal proving Bishop wrong
debating humility all night
in jersey sheets holding
skin Momma would she
Momma please don’t Momma
don’t say Dickinson wouldn’t
write me letters about
flowers veiling repression Momma
she would give me
honesty in condensed summaries
so poetic you’d say
are they or aren’t
they I just know
it Momma please I
can’t carry weight without
knowing obscure things like
if Bradstreet would stretch
time growing thin our
friendship breaking over nouns
dying for verbs Sexton
crying over Alfred on
my lap me pushing
back her hair wiping
a tear bringing over
a glass of wine
a pen a pad
saying Anne oh Anne
write it down Momma
don’t you dare say
it Momma did you
ever love me Momma
please don’t make me
pull you out of
your grave to know
Julianne Neely, 23, is a writer from New York. She has been previously published in Random Sample Review, Unbroken Journal, Babe Soda Zine, Moon Zine, and Maudlin House. She hates bios, but loves Harry Potter. She also likes Twitter. Follow her @juleneely. But not around in person. That would be weird.