LOVELY BRIDE

1.

i just think
mayonnaise
would be a beautiful name
for a wedding dress color
or maybe even a girl

2.

jesus crispy
mama magdalene
get down on yr anything

3.

when harold & kumar
finally made it to white castle
i grew concerned
“they’re gonna get sick”
i exclaimed
“they’re gonna ruin it”

4.

it’s not about the journal
it’s about the explanation
listen up
i’m cooking here
let me

5.

the construction men
who sit on the backs
of trucks shoulder2shoulder
silent/stoic/staring into 
what they call deep space 
r the only ones i believe 
wield that thing they call
“rich inner lives”

6.

the thing about
beauty
it’s so so simple
something nude n bare
n barely there
then an explosion

7.

a floor length veil

8.

do you understand
each of these are prayers

9.

the restaurant han dynasty
was obliged to take 
a dot net domain
handynasty.com was taken 
by the porn site

10.

this dress feels
very intellectual
she said
from behind the curtain
i knew what she meant
i didn’t know what they were
talking about
on the academic side
of the table
but i grasped the gist
tugged on it

11.

do you have a sonnet
here you go
do you have soy sauce
here you go
do you know what i do
i soy sauce the sonnet

12.

rub a dub dub
how’d they fit
all three of those men
in that one clawfoot tub
here, have a hook
to hang your trench coat

13.

imagine
any interaction
but holding a single rose

14.

running from the cops
in a wedding dress

LOVELY LOVELY

jesus said
i am crispy
i said
prove it
he’s in my dms
he’s in my electronic
mailing system
i am lying
on my bed
cavorting with my cohort
crushing brews like candy
consolidating the sonnet form
i’ve contemplated forming
paratactic relationships
with people i know
from the void
hey, here’s a parabola
U
go sleep on it
here’s some wilder air
go take a ride
o mother merry mama mia
all i want are wings
and some light conceptual transparency
a touch of concertina wisdom
a slurp of the angelic
halo me father
for i have singed
quickdraw me a circle
i can wear atop my becurled head
paint me golden on the ceiling
then forget abt me
like sistine candles
my mama was raised catholic
cause the temple cost a fee
mother gina marie
the bounty the image
i once took a vaguely
religious walk
i stumbled into jesus
he said help
the weight of this wood
is distributed unevenly
i helped him form it
into an X
he was a tragic figure
really, i’d tell ppl later
i often tweak it for the tale
narc it for the bit
chill for the heat
the wait of this word
so lovely lovely
like a bride
i am taking off my veil
can you see me now
can you hear me better 
what i am saying
behind the weight of this mesh
can you listen 
a little more closely
shh shh
my vowels my vows
i’m winging it
i’m weeping
it’s forming a puddle
like that flutter of snow
it weighs on me
like a crystalized flotilla
a celestial heft
like some salt shake 
of sensual wisdom

Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo is a recent graduate of the Rutgers University-Camden MFA program, where she wrote about deer, hand models, and trees. She is the author of the chapbook "DUH" (Bullshit Lit) and her work appears or is forthcoming in The Offing, Joyland, The Cleveland Review of Books, Tagvverk, and the tiny, among others. Juliet lives in Philadelphia, where she runs the reading and open mic series Spit Poetry. She can be followed @tall.spy (Instagram) and @tall__spy (Twitter) but she can never be caught.