by Millie Tullis

My mother took apart
Ox-Cart Man
by Donald Hall,
carefully cutting
her favorite pages
to frame and hang
above the washer
and dryer, a well-
used corner of the house.
She loved the paintings,
the moral, the ox. In childhood,
I loved only sad stories. To read
anything was to try
and place myself.
Could I bring home the ox,
if I were the Ox-Cart Man? How
would I keep the millions of cats
from fighting, if I were
the Millions of Cats Man?
How I would keep them fed,
if I were his Wife. How
I would drink milk
from a porcelain bowl
if I were the only Cat
left at the end
of the book.
I’d wear a collar
and sleep through the night.

after Donald Hall, Barbara Cooney, and especially Wanda Gág

Millie Tullis (she/they) is a poet, teacher, and folklorist. She holds an MFA from George Mason University and an MA in American Studies & Folklore from Utah State University. Her work has been published in Sugar House Review, Stone Circle Review, Cimarron Review, Ninth Letter, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Their first full-length collection, These Saints are Stones, is forthcoming with Signature Books in 2026. Raised in northern Utah, Millie lives and works in upstate South Carolina. Find more at millietullis.com.