FAIRY TALE

my mother said nothing
my mother was dead
my mother was knitting
and feeding the baby her breast
my father he killed her
my mother was dead
my father wore levis
my mommy baked bread
he daddyed me down
jaw cracked in my head
my milk teeth rained red
my father my husband
so rain the real dead
so pretty so pretty
so my daddy said

Millie Tullis is a poet and folklorist from Northern Utah. She received an MFA from George Mason University in 2021 and is currently studying Folklore at Utah State University. She has been published in Sugar House Review, Rock & Sling, Cimarron Review, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Psaltery & Lyre. You can find her on twitter @millie_tullis.