Mother as Widow

Millie Tullis

I knew it all my life
and still it was news

when I reached
her age of marriage

and found myself
in love

I am here
because his body

fell and no one saw
my mother at home

in her body
fleshing out

my older brother
and now even I am

older than she was
when her parents 

knocked with the news
dead in their mouths

we sing
on his birthday

we loosen
eight balloons

 

Tullis, Millie

Millie Tullis is an MFA poetry candidate at George Mason University. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Sugar House Review, Rock & Sling, Cimarron Review, Ninth Letter, Juked, and elsewhere. She serves as the Assistant Editor for Best of the Net and Poetry Editor and Social Media Manager for Phoebe. She also reads for Poetry Daily. You can find her on twitter @millie_tullis.

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