ISSUE TWELVE | SPRING 2019
O fucking topple over barn I cannot believe the denotation of wind consider stems consider how trees
stand paralyzed by H20 consider thoughtfully consideration after you release mortars on me & with your
flexors aim our path devout north
O fucking topple over barn ticking time bomb get off my pasture I am cavalier & you a bit mad
clever O deified barn biting & comely I know your shitty meditations just purchased a pistol in Iowa
& a carton of bullets your tomatoes & cucumbers rising on vines enfolding round your rods & shafts stop aiming to slip them in my casserole I only want the reddest beef the dying breed variety & how do you stand when I’m gone in grandstand I imagine the reddest lipstick on as if you have somewhere else to be
O fucking topple over barn I beseech gore into affection of this lumber & I call & you need hearken
O fucking topple over barn what nerve to not be an avalanche or bellow aloud make poetry and love to me as you fall down your gathering of idioms your scriptures and guns
O fucking topple over barn your cheeks will un-blush & where did we grow amiss & why I recall
climbing your steps laying a hand on your railing there was stillness now I don’t pine for you the truth is somebody built you with their hands the reddest hands detached benign lemon eyes the soil they lain upon pre-twanged & pre-overlaid such a notorious liberty such a revolutionary harmony but
O I see you fucking falling & I know expenditure differs by god on vacant land I sit where there is straw and think no straw I pray for rain but what when all the pasture decays my waves of grain when
we met it was the creation of the Earth at least it appeared to be
O fucking fall down barn I hath forsaken father mother son sister husband daughter wife for an intimidation of heirloom & birds and fish come listen the wars will build enemies under your feet & they have chosen land & hill & they say the city smells too much of iron & they say people should not live like birds through a mouthful of worms & oak tree nearby keeps its ear planted it is almost impossible to hear wickedness as it
O fucking fall down barn as the sky falls and the oceans rise
then spring up & everlasting
Julianne Neely received her MFA degree from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, where she received the Truman Capote Fellowship, the 2017 John Logan Poetry Prize, and a Schupes Prize for Poetry. Her chapbook 'The Body Beside Herself' is out now from Slope Editions.
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