Poetry by Bree Bailey

                Lenny DiFranza CC



​In Two Minutes This Test Calls Me Mom
 
A Poem Inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer's “Two Minute Personality Test”
 
 
What’s my favorite version of my name? Is the name I love the most the one I had the shortest amount of time? Is it the one written on the card my gynecologist sent me? Are the best moments stemming from some of the cruelest? Do I dance in twilight with crust nestled asleep in my eyes? My body moves on its own accord: does that make me sad or exhausted? Do I care? Which feels worse: going days hungry for sex? Or going days hungry for my body before it held the fate of my decisions in its clementine hands? Do I have bookmarks of things I’ve googled that frighten me and guarantee my demise? Have I googled things that frighten me making certain of my child’s demise? Have I lost friends I never actually had? Do I forage for my own safe space of survivors, of dreamers, of lovers, of poets that make time for me? Which village raised me that I had to forsake in pursuit of a better village? Should it matter if it was for the promise of a better future of all villages? Am I aware of what is created when my failures kiss my hopes at 3am? Can I recall what sunrise after surviving labor in a pandemic looks like? Small, splendid, and sleepy? If I cherished the smallest milestones, can I count them in the crinkles of my eyes? Do I swear there are more crinkles on my face than photos in my phone? If an angel exists, is it because I birthed her? What is it about giving myself to another that is so heartbreaking and beautiful? Why does it give me purpose? How do I feel? What is my favorite name? Am I a mom?

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Bree Bailey (she/her) is a new mom who lives in Northern NJ with her partner and her beautiful baby poet. Bree has written since childhood and tends to reflect on falling in/out love, mental health, and family. Bree’s poems have been featured in Anti-Heroin Chic, Sledgehammer Lit,  Gnashing Teeth, and is forthcoming in All My Relations, among others. Follow her on Instagram @breebaileypoetry or Twitter at @thebreebailey.

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