SEVER ANCE
t/
he beginning of which
b/
ody
d
islocates
l/
ike a dandelion blown
f/
rom its stem
m/
e I become anxious
a/
bout the eye
w/
here it goes
w/
hat it can see
to lose somethin/
g or everything yo/
u never wante/
d in the first plac/
e just a place to liv/
e food to ea/
t time to spen/
d with people wh/
o love o o lov/
e I wait for the mone/
y but it is a myt/
h like dropped pennie/
s that can kill trus/
t me you do no/
t want to be on th/
e other end/ of people
throwing change/ at you
who say they/ would rather
be poor/ than rich
who say/ they know because
they were you/ once but they
are not you/ now and once
you get the money/ when the head
has been removed/ for weeks
for years/ structural degradation
material grows/ unpleasant odor
damage and strain/ trust me
I/ wouldn’t/ want/ to/ be/ you
you/ are/ not/ me
you/ do/ not/ want/ to/ be/ me
I/ am/ not/ you
noun. slanted. like a table. like hole. like
the synchronicities of name. pronoun.
slight. no never I. the path of a known
you. verb. get. come. cut open. like. I
listen to the word. and then repeat it.
adverb. shove it down. my throat. silent
ly. badly. really. preposition. about or
above a language. event. I left my eyes.
on the table for you. what did you hear.
adjective. strange. piss yellow snow. sex
ular america. interjection. oh. stop here.
ouch. wow. watch out. there is no moral.
imperative to die. the way the rich. make
it seem like. it is our duty. the poor. con
junction. and. or but. because. yet. and so.
I am exhausted but. I still finish the poem.
Julianne Neely
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 Fellowship for Poetry. She is currently a Poetics PhD student and an English Department Fellow at the University at Buffalo. Her writing has been published in Hyperallergic, VIDA, The Poetry Project, The Rumpus, The Iowa Review and more. She has three chapbooks out with Slope Editions, garden-door Press, and Foundlings Press.